


Alice Connen and the Great Prank War

by idjitwithabluebox



Series: Alice Connen [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-05
Updated: 2016-12-13
Packaged: 2018-09-06 15:20:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 115,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8758219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idjitwithabluebox/pseuds/idjitwithabluebox
Summary: Following the death of their father, a set of American twins are relocated to Britain where they learn that their knack for attracting strange things may be due to something more... magical. While her brother takes to it immediately, it's a bit more of an adjustment for Alice, especially with a pair of red-heads challenging her pranking abilities.





	1. London Calling... or rather, Dartford... same difference right?

**Author's Note:**

> OC goes to Hogwarts a year ahead of Harry Potter
> 
> Originally posted on ffnet 9/24/14 (and finished on 9/17/15 but I may change it on here a bit... we'll see)

On the corner of Madrik Lane sat a nice little cottage where the Wallace family lived. The Wallace’s were not the kind to leave others to themselves. They also weren’t the people to associate themselves with strange or mysterious things, including people. The Wallace‘s viewed their lives as their world in which they needed to know what was going on. Their motto; everyone’s business is our business.

Following that motto to the letter was Mrs. Margo Wallace’s career in life. Her dirty blonde hair was always perfectly assembled for all her clubs where gossip was the currency— and it wasn’t too noticeable when she had to quickly duck behind a bush or a tree gathering such currency. Mrs. Wallace was usually tasked with relating the days news at home and in the community, probably due to her almost supernatural knack for stumbling right into the midst of it.

Mr. Burton Wallace was a very practical man, which meant that he didn‘t understand anything out of the normal and was therefore a little fearful of it. Mr. Wallace worked at one of the largest supply companies in Britain and was always prepared to discuss what had happened at work that day. While Mrs. Wallace kept up with the neighbors’ lives, Mr. Wallace kept up with his co-workers’. His large nose was very handy for sniffing out secrets and his beefy neck provided a great base for his loud barks and grunts. Mr. Wallace’s graying hair was the same color as the machines in the office, like the copying machine, which several times had provided a great hiding place for Mr. Wallace while eavesdropping on his co-workers.

As practically professional eavesdroppers, the Wallace's knew how easy it was for people to find out personal information. Subsequently they were rather skilled at keeping secrets, though Margo more so than her husband...

While Mrs. Wallace was tall, thin and blonde and Mr. Wallace was beefy, large and graying, their son Preston resembled a mix of the two. He was tall, but thicker than normal, with a large nose and blonde hair. Preston gave up on most activities after he got injured; therefore, his bicycle was rusting in the garage, his pogo stick had been sold to a family up the street, and his baseball was the neighbor dog’s toy. Preston mainly played video games and watched TV (neither had injured him yet).

That was what Preston was doing, watching TV, when the doorbell rang. Mr. Wallace lumbered to the door and opened it. Mrs. Wallace tried to see who it was through the door frame leading into the foyer but Mr. Wallace’s bulk was effectively blocking the visitor. His voice, however, carried through to them so they could hear what he was saying to the visitor.

“What?” Mr. Wallace asked, shocked. There was a pause in which the visitor answered. “We never signed up for anything like that!” indignant this time. There was another pause, longer than the first, then an explosive snort from Mr. Wallace that made both Margo and Preston jump. A few minutes later Mr. Wallace came into the living room followed by a woman in a pant suit.

Mrs. Wallace got out of her seat to greet the woman. Burton, face red, introduced them “Margo, this is,” But the woman stepped forward, held out her hand and introduced herself.

“Charisse Charity, I’m with IMSE. We would like to inform you that you have been chosen to host an exchange student from the United States,” Charisse Charity beamed as she shook Mrs. Wallace’s hand firmly. Margo’s hand was limp in Charisse Charity’s grip. When Charity released it Margo’s hand fell limply to her side, but she didn’t notice. Her mouth was slightly open in dull shock. She looked to Burton whose face was steadily getting blotchy and his jaw was clenched to where it would be a surprise if he could ever move it again.

“I… I don’t understand,” Margo said faintly. She kept looking to Burton for answers but he looked like he would explode any moment now. Charisse Charity, however, explained what she could.

“At IMSE we have a raffle. Only people who have been applied and investigated are entered. When an exchange student needs a host family we pick a family from the raffle. Your family has been chosen to play host to the Connens. You were entered after a thorough background search two years ago. The Connens are absolutely lovely! You’ll really love them,” Charisse Charity assured them. The Wallace’s looked at her in horror.

“We did not agree to this!” Burton shouted, his face slowly turning purple. Charisse Charity seemed exhausted and she sighed. “I don’t even know what this MZC thing is!” Burton exclaimed indignantly.

“IMSE,” Charisse Charity corrected but Burton ignored her.

“What the hell does that stand for?” Burton demanded. His face was definitely purple now and the vein in his forehead was pulsing. Charisse Charity wouldn’t have been surprised to see steam coming out of his ears.

“IMSE, International Magical Student Exchange. We find young witches and wizards who would like to study magic abroad and we find homes for them to stay in during the end of summer and into the school year. Some return home in the summer, some stay with their host family. It really depends on their home life.” Charisse Charity explained.

Burton stood flat-footed, his face slowly draining of all color and he mouthed wordlessly. He looked like a landed fish. Margo however, her face drained of color, stared at Charisse Charity in horrified astonishment.

“D-did you say… magical?” Margo's voice broke on the last word. Burton grumbled deep in his chest. Charisse Charity sighed. She pushed a strand of hair behind her ear and pulled a stick of wood out from her sleeve.

“What are you doing?” Burton demanded. His face was filled with fear and rage.

Charisse Charity didn’t respond. She flicked her wand and a clipboard appeared out of thin air and fell lightly into her hand. Charisse Charity flipped through papers clipped to the clipboard until she found the one she wanted. Burton and Margo stared at her in horror.

“Ah, here it is.” Charisse Charity mumbled. She brought her wand back up and pointed it at Burton and Margo. They both gasped but Charisse Charity either didn’t hear or she ignored it. She began to read. “Burton and Margo Wallace, you are hereby chosen to host Alice and Jason Connen, a witch and wizard of the age of ten. Towards the end of the summer of their eleventh year, the twins will be invited to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. You are to welcome them into your home during the summer when they are not at school. During the school year they will stay at Hogwarts. The twins will be able to return to their home in the United States during the summer if their relatives can take them,” Charisse Charity looked up at the Wallace’s at this point. “The twins are orphans.” She explained. Burton and Margo looked at each other. Margo's face softened, Burton glared at her sternly.

Charisse Charity looked back down at the clipboard and continued. “You are to follow all instructions given. Most will be explained. Your job is only to make certain the Connens are well cared for when in your care and that they arrive at Hogwarts every school year safely for the next seven years.” Charisse Charity flipped the papers ahead of the paper she read from back in front and the clipboard disappeared back into thin air.

When Charisse Charity looked up she saw Burton clutching Margo in horror. Charity sighed and brought out her wand. Before Burton could finish his shout of horror, she flicked her wand in his direction and his face fell. The expression on his face was blank, almost as if he had been put on pause. Margo turned to Charity in shock.

"You didn't have to bewitch my husband," Margo accused, still a bit faint. She honestly hadn't expected any of this to come back into her life again.

"I'm quite surprised he doesn't know," Charity said with a pointed look at Margo.

"Well, don't you have that Secrecy Law or something?" Margo pointed out defensively. "And it's not like he was going to ever meet my brother..." Margo's voice faded off as her eyes grew teary. Charisse Charity's face fell and she looked away while Margo got a hold of herself.

"So, what is this? We'll be housing orphans going to Hogwarts? Is this a new program?" Margo asked, her voice stronger now.

"Ah yes, well, fairly recent... sort of a trial program, seeing how it goes..." Charity explained evasively. Margo raised a brow but didn't pry... for once. "Will you tell him?" Charity asked, nodding to the frozen Burton.

"I suppose I'll have to," Margo sighed.

Charisse Charity nodded, then cleared her throat and put her bright smile back on. She waved her wand at Mr. Wallace once more.

“Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Wallace for agreeing! The twins will be dropped off on the twenty-fourth of this month. You will absolutely love them!” Charisse Charity said to them cheerily.

“What?” Burton asked in confusion. “What are you talking about? We never signed up for anything!” he exclaimed. Margo put a gentle hand on her husband's arm.

"Burton, dear. I believe I signed up for it a couple years ago at that conference, don't you remember I told you about the presentation that charity did?" One would think Margo was a witch herself as her voice had a magical effect on her husband, calming him almost instantly, though he still looked rather perturbed.

“All instructions will be sent to you at the appropriate time but for now all you have to do is care for them like your own. A booklet will be delivered within the week explaining our procedures. Well, have a good day!” Charity said and after a nod from Margo, saw herself out.

Mr. Wallace looked sternly at his wife. Margo sighed.

"Dear, there's something I should've told you a long while ago."

* * *

 

June the twenty-fourth came quickly and the Wallace's prepared for the arrival of the twins in the only way they could; they cleaned.

Mrs. Wallace viciously scrubbed the floors and didn’t stop until she could see her reflection in the tile and hardwood. Preston was set to work in the yard. He was mowing the lawn, pulling the few weeds that had popped up in the garden and sweeping the porch and sidewalk; grumbling all the while. Mr. Wallace was busy fixing anything that looked like it could break. Nothing in their house was broken, Mrs. Wallace made sure of that but Mr. Wallace was taking no chances. Before noon, the entire house, inside and out, was shining as though it had been polished, which the floors, tables and counters had been.

The Wallace’s then went upstairs and got ready. Mrs. Wallace came back down in a nice pale blue dress with white flats. Mr. Wallace wore a nice button-down and his best tie. Preston was forced to dress up as well. He reluctantly came down an hour later wearing a bow tie, his dress shoes polished, and his hair plastered to his head with the part in the middle.

Preston sat down to watch TV and Mr. Wallace sat reading the newspaper, continually glancing at his watch every two seconds. Mrs. Wallace went into the kitchen to make tea and cookies. The twins were supposed to arrive at two and they had a little under an hour until that time. The whole house seemed to be shaking in anticipation. Mrs. Wallace came in the living room and sat by the window, continually glancing out it.

At two o’clock Mr. and Mrs. Wallace got anxious. Mr. Wallace continually got up, went to the door, opened it, and poked his head out, looking up and down the street. He would then come back in, sit down and grumble about common courtesy.

“No respect! We could be late for something!” Burton grumbled.

“Late for what Burton?” Margo asked absentmindedly as she watched out the window.

“Well, nothing. But we could’ve had something!” He replied indignantly. He pulled the newspaper back up in front of his face and no sooner had he started reading it then the doorbell rang. Burton and Margo looked at each other. Neither had heard a car pull up.

Burton and Margo got up and went to the door. Margo hurried back in the living room and pulled Preston out into the foyer. Margo lovingly smoothed Preston’s hair back down and Burton straightened his tie. Burton opened the door.

Charisse Charity’s finger was an inch away from the doorbell when the door opened. She smiled and pulled her hand back. Behind her stood two short figures. Both had dark brown hair and green eyes. The girl looked bored and the boy uncomfortable.

“Good day, Mr. Wallace!” Charisse Charity said brightly. Burton stood back to let the three into the house.

They walked in. The girl started looking around the house with that same bored expression while her brother shifted uncomfortably on the spot. Charisse Charity stepped forward and shook Mr. and Mrs. Wallace’s hands.

“Nice to see you again!” She said cheerfully. She looked around the foyer. “Wow, this place just sparkles! I’d have thought you used magic if I didn’t know any better!” Charisse stated intending it as a compliment.

Mr. Wallace didn't seem to take it as such as he sucked in a breath, but didn't protest at a quick, sympathetic glance to his wife. Charisse Charity didn’t notice.

“Mr. and Mrs. Wallace, this is Jason,” Charisse indicated the boy who quickly looked at his feet. “And Alice,” she then turned to her other side and indicated the girl who stopped looking around the room to look up at Mr. and Mrs. Wallace. The corner of her mouth sort of twitched as if she wasn’t sure whether to smile or not.

Charisse Charity bit her lip uncomfortably. This was an awkward moment and no one seemed like they were about to talk. She swung her arms forward and went up on her toes and then as her arms swung back she went back down on her heels. She swung her arms up once more and brought her hands together in a clap.

“So, shall we go into the sitting room?” she said politely indicating the room to her left. The Wallace’s shook themselves out of a reverie and led the way into the sitting room.

Charisse and the twins sat on a couch while Mr. Wallace and Preston sat on the couch facing Charisse and the twins. Mrs. Wallace bustled into the kitchen and came out with a plate of tea and cookies. She offered it to Charisse and the twins then set it down on the coffee table before sitting in a chair beside Mr. Wallace.

“So, you’re ten years old?” Mrs. Wallace kindly asked the twins. Alice was the one that answered.

“Yeah, we turn eleven in February.” She answered. Her voice sounded strange to the Wallace’s. Unlike them, she was American so her accent was alien to them. Alice noticed their looks.

“Sorry, it’s just your accent is so strange.” Mrs. Wallace explained.

“What are you talking about? I don’t have an accent.” Alice said, confused.

The Wallace’s were taken aback. They were about to say something but Charisse Charity shook her head. They let the matter drop and Alice continued to look curiously around the room, though she kept casting inquisitive glances at the Wallace’s.

“So, Mr. and Mrs. Wallace,” Charisse Charity began somewhat awkwardly. “You’ve read the pamphlet we delivered to your house if I’m not mistaken?” They nodded. “Wonderful! Well then you are aware of certain procedures. We will check once a month for the first year as to how the children are being treated. The twins know how to contact me if any of you need anything, have any questions. After the first year… well, we’ll see how it goes and when we get there I’ll explain more. Could I have a tour of the house? Procedure.” She explained.

“Oh, of course!” Mrs. Wallace jumped out of her chair. “Follow me,” she said as she walked through the archway out of the living room and into the dining room.

Charisse Charity got up from the couch and followed Mr. Wallace who had gone along behind Mrs. Wallace. The twins remained on the couch and as they started to awkwardly get up, not sure if they should follow, Charisse Charity popped her head through the doorway.

“Come along you two!” she said, gesturing them along.

Preston remained in the living room and as the twins exited out of the living room, they could hear the TV turn on. Alice and Jason followed meekly behind the adults. Alice didn’t really pay any attention to anything they said other than, “This is the kitchen… the bathroom’s in through here… These two bedrooms will be the twins, the two of you can choose who gets which…” and the rest went in one ear and out the other. Jason, however, absorbed every word they said so that he could’ve repeated the entire tour back to someone word for word.

After the tour was done, the adults started talking amongst themselves, completely forgetting the twins’ presence. Alice nudged Jason and he followed as she quietly went back downstairs and into the living room.

Preston was sprawled on the couch, eating from a bag of chips as he watched TV. Alice tried not to look too disgusted. Jason was still glancing around nervously and followed Alice’s lead as she sat on the opposite couch.

“So, what’s your name again?” Alice asked, more out of curiosity than actually caring.

“Preston, what’s yours?” Preston replied gruffly. Alice smiled to herself. Preston barked like his father but Preston’s bark seemed more like a Chihuahua trying to be a Doberman.

“I’m Alice and this is Jason.” Alice replied, jerking a thumb at Jason sitting next to her.

Preston nodded and returned his attention to the television.

Alice was very bored, she had all this pent-up energy and she didn’t feel comfortable letting it out. She drummed her fingers on her knees, Jason watching them. Alice kept drumming her fingers until she saw Jason staring at her active fingers and she quickly stopped. “Sorry,” she said sullenly, crossing her arms across her stomach. Jason turned his head away and looked out of the window.

Alice looked around the sitting room, which was adjoined with the dining room. There were sliding glass doors leading out of the dining room into the back yard. Alice’s gaze flicked past the glass doors but her eyes were violently brought back. Through the glass doors, Alice could’ve sworn she saw a man in a black cloak or robes or something like that. He had been sitting on the Wallace’s fence. She searched the yard for the man in the cloak but he was nowhere to be found. Giving the glass doors a last, suspicious glare, Alice turned her attention to the television. The man must’ve been her imagination, which had a tendency to run wild.

“Alice,” Jason whispered, nudging her with his elbow. Alice turned and looked out the window to where Jason was pointing. Across the street, in front of a neighbor’s house, stood three people. They were arguing but that wasn’t what was strange about them. All of the people were wearing cloaks. The woman was wearing a dark blue cloak, one of the men a purple, and the other a green cloak. The woman and the man in the green cloak were talking very animatedly. The woman kept pointing to the Wallace’s house and saying something bad by the look on her face. The man in the green cloak responded just as angrily and shook his head. The man in the purple remained quiet most of the time. Alice slowly and quietly got up from the couch and motioned for Jason to follow her.

She crept to the window and knelt in front of it, just her eyes peeking over the sill. Jason knelt beside her and the two watched. The three cloaked people argued for a long time and seemed to be getting more furious as they argued. Suddenly the woman pulled out a smooth stick and pointed it at the man in the green threateningly. The man in the green retreated and the man in the purple jumped in between the man in the green and the woman’s stick. He said something to her and pointed at the house, directly at the window that Alice and Jason were crouched in front of. The twins saw the woman turn her head to look at the house and the twins quickly ducked out of sight.

“Do you think she saw us?” Jason mouthed. Alice shrugged and slowly raised herself off the ground to look out the window. As soon as her eyes peered over the window ledge she saw the woman looking over at them. Alice’s eyes widened and so did the woman’s. Alice ducked back down as the woman pointed to the Wallace’s window.

“What happened?” Jason whispered. Alice didn’t respond so Jason cautiously peered over the window ledge. “Uh, Alice,” he began slowly. Alice poked her head up just in time to see the three people turn on the spot and vanish with a loud CRACK! Alice turned to look at Jason, who turned to look at her. His face reflected her shock as he mouthed, “Whoa!”

Alice leapt to her feet, Jason doing the same, as she heard Mrs. Wallace’s voice growing louder as the adults walked down the steps. Alice quickly sat on the couch and tried to slow her heartbeat while she acted as though they hadn’t just witnessed anything unordinary. Mr. and Mrs. Wallace walked into the sitting room followed by Charisse Charity who was talking to Mrs. Wallace.

“Yes, I don’t think you’ll have any trouble with them,” she finished. “Well,” Charisse Charity said clapping her hands together. “I must be off! Good-bye Alice, Jason,” she said business-like. Alice waved and Jason said “’Bye.” Mr. and Mrs. Wallace walked with Charisse Charity to the door where they began another discussion. Alice strained her ears to hear what they were saying but they kept their voices low. She glanced over at Jason who shook his head. He hadn’t heard anything either. They heard the door close and Mr. and Mrs. Wallace reentered the sitting room. Mrs. Wallace smiled cheerfully, Mr. Wallace grunted and sat down in his armchair.

“So, Alice, Jason,” Mrs. Wallace began kindly. Alice raised an eyebrow in skeptical curiosity. “What do you two like to do?” Mrs. Wallace asked. Alice looked to Jason.

“Well, I like to read, and I play instruments,” Jason said awkwardly.

“Oh, really! What kind of instruments do you play?” she asked excitedly.

“Well, I can play piano and guitar,” he answered.

“How lovely! I play piano also, we have one in the dining room,” she said pointing into the dining room where a mahogany piano was clearly visible. Jason returned Mrs. Wallace’s smile. Mrs. Wallace turned to Alice. “And what about you dear?” She asked.

Alice shrugged. “I don’t know, I like video games and sports,” she said offhandedly. Mrs. Wallace’s face fell.

“Oh, well, that’s nice. Preston likes to play video games too,” she said looking over at Preston. Preston grunted in reply. Alice didn’t care to elaborate and Mrs. Wallace couldn’t think of anything else to say on that subject. “So, Jason, how well do you play piano?” she asked Jason curiously.

“Well, I only know the basics. Our aunt can play piano really well and she’s the one who taught me but we didn’t get much farther than playing a couple of songs,” Jason replied.

“Well, then why don’t I teach you a little?” Mrs. Wallace asked. Jason looked to Alice who shrugged and he followed Mrs. Wallace into the dining room where she began to help Jason with playing the piano.

Alice sat on the couch and watched TV but she wasn’t paying attention to it. This was the first time that she was really homesick. She didn’t miss her old house, which was empty now, or her old room. She missed her dad.

She missed helping him cook dinner, playing basketball with him out in the driveway, and playing video games with him. She missed Fun Food Friday where her dad would always plan some great dinner that they could make together. She still remembered when they made homemade pizza and the three of them had gotten into a flour fight which resulted in the kitchen looking like it had been hit by a snowstorm, and her, Jason, and their dad all looking like they had gone prematurely grey.  
Alice shook herself out of her memories, which were bittersweet, when Mrs. Wallace came back into the sitting room an hour later. Jason was playing a song that Mrs. Wallace had just taught him in the background.

“Alice, would you like to help me make supper?” Mrs. Wallace asked. Alice nodded and followed her into the kitchen. “There are some potatoes in the pantry, if you could get them out for me,” Mrs. Wallace said. Alice opened the door to the pantry and grabbed the bag of potatoes. She started to close the pantry door but a scream interrupted her. She swung around to find the source but everyone was acting as though nothing had happened. Mrs. Wallace was cutting up vegetables, Preston and Mr. Wallace were still watching TV and Jason was playing another song.

“Did you hear that?” Alice asked.

Mrs. Wallace stopped slicing the vegetables and looked up. “Hear what dear?” she asked kindly.

“Never mind,” Alice replied. She knew they'd think she was weird if she told them she was hearing screams. Alice walked over to the counter and put the bag of potatoes on the counter.

“Any peeling skills?” Mrs. Wallace challenged good-naturedly, never missing a slice. Alice nodded and gave Margo a slight smile. “Good, there’s a peeler in the drawer right there,” Mrs. Wallace grinned, indicating the drawer on her right. Alice grabbed a knife out of the drawer and set to work on the potatoes. Mrs. Wallace, or Margo as she had told Alice to call her, was actually pretty decent. She kept up a banter all throughout their cooking so it was never boring, although Alice already liked cooking, she used to always help her dad and it had kind of been their thing.

The peeler slipped right out of her fingers and clattered into the sink, startling Alice and Margo who was over at the oven.

"Are you all right, dear?" she asked, concerned.

"Yeah, it just slipped," Alice replied, successfully covering the waver in her voice.

"Oh, don't I know. I always manage to drop it or a potato, or both, half a dozen times," Margo laughed. Luckily she wasn't expecting a response from Alice.

At six-thirty, the Wallace’s and the Connen twins sat down for dinner. Preston’s mouth watered at the aroma of boiled potatoes, steamed vegetables and pork chops. Well, his mouth didn’t so much water at the vegetables, but everything else was amazing. Everyone piled their plates with food, but Alice lost her appetite halfway through the meal. Preston was happy to finish off her leftovers.

Preston was set the task of washing the dishes. Jason and Alice offered but Mrs. Wallace quickly shooed them out of the kitchen. “It’s your first night here. You’re our guests! You’ll have plenty of other opportunities to wash the dishes. Now, go relax,” she said as she hustled them into the sitting room. Jason and Alice sat on the couch and watched television and they were soon joined by the rest of the family.

“Okay, off to bed!” Mrs. Wallace said as she shuffled Preston, Jason and Alice up the stairs. Alice planned on a small scuffle with Jason over who got which room, but Jason was quick to let Alice have the bigger room. Alice, disheartened, told Jason to have it and went into the slightly smaller room. It was a nice room with a great window seat and a comfy looking bed. It even had a small walk-in closet, but Alice wasn’t in the mood to fully show her excitement beyond a grin and a swooping feeling in her heart. She sat on the window seat and looked out on the little lights from the neighboring houses.

Alice sat in the window for about half an hour before getting up and going into Jason’s room. She wasn’t surprised to find him reading. She carefully closed the door so as not to wake anyone. “I knew you’d want to talk,” Jason said closing his book. Alice jumped a little. She had been completely silent and Jason had been reading so she was surprised that he knew she was there.

Jason got out of the chair and put the book back on the shelf. Recovering from her shock, Alice sat down on Jason’s bed just as he sat back down in his chair.

“So, what do you think about this place?” Alice asked hesitantly. Jason shrugged.

“I don’t know. I don’t dislike it,” he answered. Alice hung her head. She had expected that.

“Do you like them? The Wallace’s?” she asked.

“They’re not horrible. Yeah, I guess I kind of like them,” he replied.

“How can you say that?” Alice demanded. She shot to her feet and stood over him, glowering. “How can you like them? We should be with Aunt K!” Alice whispered harshly.

“Aunt K can’t take care of us! She has a job that takes her around the world, and that’s no place for children!” Jason whispered back, just as harshly.

“Oh, so instead they’ll ship us halfway across the world to live with people who have no relation to us whatsoever!” Alice fumed. “They just dump us in some strange country with strange people and tell us ‘This will be your family! Good luck! Oh, and I forgot to mention, they’re British!’” Alice steadily got louder until she ended with a shout. She quickly covered her mouth, hoping no one heard.

“I know, Alice. I’m upset too, but shouting won’t help anything,” Jason said calmly and almost paternally.

“Don’t you dare try to be Dad!” Alice whispered darkly. They both jumped as a book fell from the shelf with a thud. After a moment, Jason, instead of quelling like any other ten year old would, sighed and replied calmly.

“Alice, I’m not trying to be Dad. You just miss him so much that you’re looking for him in anything.”

Alice shook her head. This was why people rarely believed Jason was only ten years old. Alice was so used to his unusually profound, therapist-type answers that it was starting to frustrate her.

“Jason,” she began, about to say something angry but just as she took a breath something hit against the window, cracking it. Startled, Jason commented on how he would need to tell the Wallace's about the window in the morning. Alice forgot what she had been about to say, which was probably a good thing. Instead, her shoulders slumped and she looked down at the ground. “I don’t belong here,” she mumbled.

“I don’t belong here either but we have to make the best of it,” Jason replied. He didn’t seem to understand where she was coming from. To any stranger it would sound like he was being comforting but he wasn’t. In fact, to Alice, he was being extremely insensitive.

“Jason! Just go back to your books and your music! Mrs. Wallace obviously loves you so you can stay with her here and I’ll go back and travel the world with Aunt K!” Alice shouted in frustration. She stood up, marched over to the door and swung it open so hard that it hit the wall. Not even bothering to be quiet, Alice stomped through the doorway and slammed the door behind her. She stomped into her room, fuming and plopped onto the window seat.

How could Jason be so insensitive? They had just lost their father and were taken away from their only remaining family but Jason was acting as though this was just a slight inconvenience. As if he wanted to eat a bowl of Coco Pebbles but all they had was Trix. Alice wasn’t going to forget her life so soon. She had to leave so much behind when they got shipped off to Britain. She had to leave her best friends since preschool, her school where she knew everyone, the house she had been born in, the neighbors she caused trouble with. All of it was gone. Now she had to live in London where she didn't know anyone; go to a school with a foreign curriculum; and worst of all, not understand anyone because of their stupid accents!

Alice was so frustrated and upset that she just wanted to punch something but she knew that wouldn’t help. Personal experience had proved it only left you still angry and with an aching hand. Alice jumped off the window seat and paced about the room. Her angry pacing let off some stress but also drained her of her energy. She sat back down onto the window seat (she was too resentful to actually sleep in the bed). She grabbed a pillow and clutched it tightly to her chest. The last thing Alice saw before she drifted into sleep, was a display of fireworks in the distance which put her in mind of July 4th, which they didn’t celebrate here.

* * *

 The day hadn’t started out abnormal. By all means it seemed like a pretty normal, simple day; besides the fact that Alice and Jason were once again waking up in Dartford, Kent, Britain instead of Tallahassee, Florida, U.S.A., God Bless America.

Her first sensation was the feel of cold glass against her forehead. Alice groggily opened her eyes. The sky outside was a light, pretty blue occasionally marred by little, white, fluffy clouds. She saw Jason, in the backyard, sitting on a bench, reading. Preston was throwing a softball back and forth with one of his friends, Arnie. Mrs. Wallace came out with a tray of lemonade for the boys.

Alice pulled away from the window, her forehead had stuck to it so it pulled away slowly and more painfully. She rubbed her forehead, which was red, and got up from the window seat. It had been a year since they first came here and Alice had slept in her bed less than half of that time. She didn’t intend to most of the time; she just fell asleep reading, or thinking, or watching the skies.

Alice was now eleven and when the school year started she would be going to Kelmers, a private school for girls and Mrs. Wallace’s old middle school. Jason and Preston would be going to Mr. Wallace’s old private school for boys, Alice couldn’t remember the name. She was very unhappy about this for several reasons; she wouldn’t be going to school with her brother, she would be alone with a bunch of British girls, and there would be no boys! Boys had always made up at least half of her friend group.

Alice got dressed and went downstairs. There was a plate set on the table for her, like always. She sat down and ate the chicken salad sandwich and by the time she was done, Mrs. Wallace came back into the kitchen.

“All done, dear?” she asked kindly. Alice nodded and Margo took her plate. She hummed while she washed the dishes and Alice went into the living room and distractedly watched TV.

There came a knock on the door. “Alice, dear, could you get that,” Mrs. Wallace called from the kitchen. Alice hopped off the couch, glad for something to do. Alice reached the door and opened it. There, on the porch, stood a man, shorter than Alice-- which was an anomaly in and of itself. He was a tiny little man in a dark blue suit with a shock of white hair.

“Good day!” he said in a squeaky sort of voice.

“Um, who are you?” Alice asked, thinking it would be mean to ask ‘ _what_ are you’.

“Oh, goodness me! I forgot to introduce myself! I am Filius Flitwick and I am a professor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. May I come in?” he asked politely.

Alice stood aside to let him in. He walked in the door and started commenting immediately. “Wonderful! Lovely little house!”

“Mrs. Wallace!” Alice called as she led Professor Flitwick into the kitchen.

“Yes, Alice— oh!” Mrs. Wallace shouted in surprise. “Oh, I’m so sorry!” she apologized

“No, you are quite alright! I get that reaction a lot,” Flitwick said. “Allow me to introduce myself. I am Filius Flitwick a professor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry,” he said, extending his hand. Margo shook it enthusiastically.

“Oh, yes! They told me you would be arriving sometime during the week!” she said excitedly. Alice looked in shock between tiny Professor Flitwick and Mrs. Wallace who were acting like old friends who ran into each other at the store.

“Now, now. I must get down to business! Miss Connen,” Flitwick squeaked and beckoned her to sit as he sat down at the kitchen table. Alice suspiciously stepped over to the table and sat down across from Flitwick. Margo sat at the end of the table. “Where is your brother?” Flitwick asked Alice but Mrs. Wallace answered.

“Oh, he’s outside,” she explained and hurried over to the back door to call him in. She returned shortly with Jason behind her.

“Yes,” Jason said.

“Sit down my dear boy!” Flitwick piped. Jason sat down next to Alice, giving her a questioning look but Alice could only shrug her shoulders. She had no idea what was going on!

“Now, Mr. and Ms. Connen. I have two letters for you, but first I must explain.” Flitwick suddenly leaned over the table and became rather serious. “Have you two ever made any strange things happen? Maybe when you were mad, or extremely happy?” He asked.

Alice looked at Jason but his face did not reveal his thoughts. Alice felt invaded. How did this man know? In fact, just the other day Preston had been gloating because he scored a goal on Alice in soccer; one to her twenty-something goals. Alice was really annoyed and as soon as he started dancing, the soccer ball on the ground near him suddenly rolled of its own accord right under his foot. He stepped down as he was dancing, slipped on the ball, and landed flat on his back in the middle of the yard. Alice had died laughing and Preston was too embarrassed to tell anyone about finally scoring a goal on Alice.

“There is a reason for these mysterious things happening when you feel strong emotions. You, Jason, are a wizard! And you, Alice, are a witch!” Flitwick said dramatically.

The room instantly went silent. No one moved or even breathed for a moment as they all stared at each other.

Alice burst into laughter.

“You’ve got to be joking,” she chuckled. This man must be crazy! There were no witches and wizards. Who did he think he was kidding!

Instead of replying, Flitwick pulled a stick of wood out of his coat pocket and waved it in the air. Two letters popped out of thin air and floated gently, guided by Professor Flitwick’s wand, to lay on the table; one directly in front of Alice and the other in front of Jason. Alice stared. She then smiled and waved her hands in the air where the letters had popped out of nowhere, searching for strings.

“Nice trick, but I’ve seen that one before!” she smiled. She continued to search for the strings but she couldn’t feel any. Flitwick just sat back in his chair, smiling contently. Alice finally gave up and sat back down defeated. She looked at the letter. In green ink writing the letter was addressed to her:

  
_Miss A. Connen_  
_The room overlooking the backyard_  
_12 Madrik Lane_  
_Dartford_  
_Kent_

  
Alice was shocked to see that her room was on there. “But then again,” she thought, “he knows Mrs. Wallace. She probably told him to make me think it was magic.” Alice looked over at Jason. He was staring down at his letter in amazement. Alice followed his gaze to his letter. It was addressed similarly only with his name and room.

  
_Mr. J. Connen_  
_The room over the garage_  
_12 Madrik Lane_  
_Dartford_  
_Kent_

  
Alice picked up her letter and inspected it. The envelope was sealed with a wax seal that had imprinted on it a coat of arms, or so it seemed. It was in the shape of a shield with a large and ornate capital “H” that was surrounded by a lion, badger, eagle, and snake.

“Open it,” Flitwick smiled. Alice watched him suspiciously and picked up the envelope. She broke the wax seal and pulled out the letter.

  
HOGWARTS SCHOOL  
_of_ WITCHCRAFT _and_ WIZARDRY

Headmaster: ALBUS DUMBLEDORE  
_(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,_  
_Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)_

Dear Miss Connen,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at  Hogwarts  School  of  Witchcraft  and  Wizardry.  Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall,

Deputy Headmistress

  
Alice looked up at Flitwick and Mrs. Wallace who were both smiling encouragingly.

“You are a witch Alice. You can do magic! You are very talented too, the both of you!” Flitwick squeaked.

Alice was silent and Flitwick took that for further disbelief. He raised his wand and pointed it at the dishes in the sink. He flicked his wand and they started washing themselves. Alice stared in open mouthed amazement.

She really wanted to believe what he was telling her. That there was a reason for why she was so strange and why strange things always happened to her and her brother. The problem was that every time she believed in something wonderful, it got taken away and she was left wanting. Jason on the other hand was already latching onto this wonderful idea of magic.

“So this school, it will teach us how to control our powers? And this headmaster, is he good, I mean he’s obviously good if he is all these things the letter says but I mean, is he nice? Is he a good headmaster? And what about you? What do you do at Hogwarts?” Jason asked excitedly. Flitwick was only too happy to answer his questions.

“Yes, it will teach you how to use magic and control it. Dumbledore is an amazing headmaster! The greatest Hogwarts has ever had! I teach Charms at Hogwarts and I am Head of Ravenclaw House.”

“And what does Charms involve?” Jason asked.

“Well, making things fly, moving objects, spells like Cheering Charms but those aren’t until later on,” Flitwick replied.

“And what about Minerva McGonagall? What does she do?”

“She teaches Transfiguration which is, essentially, turning one thing into something else. She is also, as the letter says, Deputy Headmistress meaning that should Dumbledore for any reason need to leave, she would act as headmaster. Or headmistress rather. She is also Head of Gryffindor House.”

“What are these houses?” Jason asked.

“Hogwarts has four houses; Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. New students are sorted into a house and that becomes, basically like your family at Hogwarts. You have classes with your house, share dormitories and common rooms. You will learn more about the houses at Hogwarts.”

By the time Jason was done asking questions it was dinner time and Flitwick had to leave. He walked to the edge of the sidewalk, turned on the spot, and disappeared with a small crack.

Jason couldn’t stop talking about their newly discovered destiny and would not shut up about Hogwarts. He kept asking Alice about it, like she knew all about this mysterious place. By the time they went up to bed Jason was deeply rooted in this idea of a magical world. However, Alice went into her room skeptical. She would believe this wild story when she saw the school.

* * *

 “Alice wake up!”

“No, go away,” Alice moaned.

“Come on, Alice! Wake up!”

“No! Let me sleep,” Alice groaned as she burrowed deeper under the blankets. The voice was quiet and Alice sighed thankfully. She pulled the blankets tighter around her and began to drift back into sweet sleep. Suddenly the whole bed started shaking. Alice’s eyes flared open. She shot up and looked around frantically.

“What are you doing?” Alice shouted. Jason stopped shaking the bed and went over to stand next to her.

“Alice, we discovered that we can do magic! You and me, we’re wizards! Aren’t you excited?” Jason asked.

“I’ll be excited to finally get a good night’s sleep that’s not interrupted by a wizard shaking my bed!” Alice said grumpily.

“Well, come on down for breakfast!” Jason exclaimed, beaming from Alice calling him a wizard. He ran to the door but looked back. “Margo made pancakes! Only they call them something different over here,” Jason said and ran downstairs.


	2. Shopping for School Supplies has Never Been This Exciting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I totally made pottermore accounts for both Alice and Jason and took the wand quiz as each of them to figure out their wands- I'm not messing around, I was not going to give them the wrong wands. (also did it for sorting, just as confirmation as I had already sorted them myself- and both were correct- but that comes up later)
> 
> also, as if you can't tell already, all the chapter titles are basically done by Alice (took inspiration from the chapter titles of PJO which always cracked me up and were informative)

September 1st was coming much quicker than Alice could’ve anticipated. She suspected Jason of having utilized his newfound magic powers to somehow speed up time. He would’ve had he known how, but Jason was not to blame for this phenomena.

“It’s just because I’m so antsy about it… If I was excited it would seem like years,” Alice thought to herself as she was shuffled along the street by Mrs. Wallace. Margo was taking them to shop for school supplies, a list had been included with their acceptance letters. Alice had glanced at it and was now curious as to where Margo expected to find cauldrons and spell books. She knew a place apparently, as she hustled Alice and Jason along purposefully.

When Margo suddenly turned them into a building, Alice had just had enough time to glance at the sign hanging above the door. The Leaky Cauldron? Why was Margo taking them into a bar? Unless she thought, from the name, that it was a cauldron store. Mrs. Wallace was a little naïve about those sorts of things, taking names too literally and not looking at the theme or feel to it.

The Leaky Cauldron was dark inside. It took a few minutes for Alice’s eyes to adjust to the dimness. Jason’s apparently took less time as he was quickly glancing around, his eyes wide in confused wonder. It was as if everything was made magical to him after learning about his powers, even mundane, dingy English pubs. Margo didn’t seem surprised by the interior at all. This apparently was their destination. She led them towards the bar. Passing by a table with a couple of men wearing hoods, Alice glanced over to see the men playing chess. Except that the pieces were moving on their own! Alice paused to watch, her mouth gaping wide, prepared for a bird to make a nest in there. When the white queen moved to take a black bishop, the pieces actually fought, the queen trapping the bishop in a headlock, forcing him to tap out and leave the board. At this Alice’s mouth snapped shut as the man playing white cheered and the man playing back swore under his breath. Margo returned to sweep Alice over to the bar.

“Is that Ms. Stewart? Why, you’re all grown up!” the barkeep exclaimed, a grin pulling at his cheeks as Margo approached him.

“It’s Mrs. Wallace now,” she greeted, smiling. “It’s good to see you, Tom.”

“I remember, you were just a teenager the last time you came with your brother.” Tom looked over the bar at Alice and Jason. His eyes widened. “Is this the next generation of Stewart wizards?”

“Actually, no, my husband and I are just fostering them. This is Jason and Alice Connen,” she introduced the kids to the kindly, old barkeep who grinned over at them.

“Pleased to meet you,” he said, his eyes twinkling.

“Oh, no, the pleasure is ours! Are you a wizard too?” Jason was bubbling over. Tom was momentarily struck by the accent.

“What brought you two across the pond?” Tom asked curiously, forgetting the boy’s question in his shock.

“Our father died,” Alice stated grimly. Jason glared over at her, she really had no tact. Her eyes unflinchingly met Tom’s, who gazed at them now with sympathy, but to Alice it seemed all too much like pity.

“Oh, dear, these are dark times indeed. It seems I’m meeting too many orphans starting school.”

“Speaking of which, if you wouldn’t mind letting us in back? I’ve forgotten the combination,” Margo explained.

“Of course,” Tom smiled, but his mood was considerably more sober now as he led them out into a walled courtyard and straight to a brick wall. There, Tom pressed a brick, that was three up from a dustbin and two over, in, and before Alice could question what he was doing, the bricks parted, forming a large archway. The archway revealed a street lined with strange shops and bustling with people dressed in all sorts of strange clothes, from robes and pointed hats, to mismatched outfits that looked like they had rummaged through an elderly person’s wardrobe.

For the first time in a long while, Alice’s face finally matched the wonder of Jason’s. Their joyful faces really made it apparent that the two were twins, they had never looked more alike to Margo than in that moment. She couldn’t hide her own wondrous grin. 

It had been a long time since she had come here with her brother in his fourth year. She used to be so involved in the wizarding world, but after she went to college, she had drifted away from the wonder and the magic. She had befriended Muggles, lived with Muggles, married a Muggle, had a Muggle child, and eventually closed herself off in the Muggle World, entirely forgetting that of the Wizarding World. That is until Charisse Charity showed up on their doorstep. Then all the memories had come flooding back and once the shock and fear wore off she let herself get excited again, for the two children that would find their home in it, giving her a chance to be connected to it again after the death of her brother.

“Come on, you two, let’s get your school supplies,” she said, quirking her eyebrow playfully. How many kids’ school supplies involved a wand and spell books? The twins grinned at her and the three stepped into Diagon Alley, Margo waving a thank you and goodbye to Tom who returned it. The archway closed behind them as Margo led the twins off to Potage’s Cauldron Shop.

* * *

 

Upon reflection, Margo supposed they should’ve gone to Flourish and Blotts last.

Alice had quickly found the books on her list, paid, and was now rolling her eyes as she and Margo waited on Jason to pry his nose from a book. He had yet to check out as he had found ten other books that were apparently “Too fascinating to choose between!” Margo was tapping her foot impatiently as Jason’s gaze flicked between the last two books he had narrowed it down to, a tortured expression on his face.

Alice couldn’t take it anymore. Groaning, she stomped towards Jason, ripped a book out of his hand and stuffed it on a shelf before locking his arm in hers and dragging him up to the clerk. Jason cast longing glances back at the other book Alice had unceremoniously stuffed in the wrong section, but he really didn’t have a choice in the matter. Alice was already paying for his books and dragging him back to Margo.

“Okay, we’re done. What’s next?” Alice asked Margo. Margo smiled.

“I’ve saved the best for last!” she explained cheerily, leading them out of the bookstore, down the street, and to a little storefront called Ollivander’s.

“Wandmakers?” Jason asked hopefully.

“We get to pick our wands?” Alice asked excitedly. 

“Yes, and no,” Margo replied. The twins gave her a confused look after glancing between themselves. “I’ll let Mr. Ollivander explain.”

The three entered into the dimly lit shop. Dust filtered down through the air. A wizened old man with an eccentric look sat behind a desk, a pair of spectacles resting on his nose. Jason was the last to enter, but as he stepped out from behind Alice, something clattered in the back of the shop. Ollivander looked up, startled and peered back towards the noise. He then glanced back at Jason who looked confused. Narrowing his eyes Ollivander nodded his head.

“Interesting,” he muttered. Ollivander got up from behind his desk and went into the back of the shop, forgetting to greet his customers. He wheeled a ladder over to a shelf and climbed up to a box that was glowing in the cracks under the lid and trembling slightly. Ollivander removed the box from the shelf, and returned to the front of the store with it. He set the box on his desk and carefully removed the lid.

“Come here, my boy, come, come!” he ushered Jason over.

Jason cast a wary glance to Alice, who drew her eyebrows down suspiciously. He looked to Margo who simply smiled and nodded, so he stepped, cautiously over towards the strange man and the box, from which a strange, goldish glow was emanating. Ollivander drew Jason over to stand right in front of the box, where he saw a beautiful wand sitting in the box, with gold light glowing at one end. As Jason came within sight of the wand, it started sending out golden sparks. Jason started back, but Ollivander, with a single light touch, kept him there.

“Pick it up,” he whispered. As Jason reached for the wand Ollivander began reciting, “Vine, unyielding, ten inches, with a phoenix feather core, quite remarkable, and rare, very uncommon,” he seemed to be rambling, but Jason took in every word, burning them into his brain to always remember. As soon as his palm touched the handle, a warmth spread into his fingertips. Drawing the wand from its box, Jason held it up in front of him and it sent more gold sparks, and now some green, and purple, and blue, shooting into the sky happily.

“Vine wands are very sensitive to prospective suitors, only once before have I ever witnessed one emit magical properties upon the mere entrance of a suitable owner, very interesting,” Ollivander spoke, in what seemed a perpetual whisper, which gave his words a tone of mystery and suspicion. It didn’t really matter to Jason. He felt like he could take on the world, now that he had his wand.

“Well, that was fast,” Margo remarked to herself. Alice glanced up at her in frustrated bewilderment.

“What is going on?” Alice demanded. Before Margo could respond, Ollivander gave forth an explanation.

“Every wand is unique, crafted from a particular wood, with one of three magical cores. A wand is not simply a tool to be used by any wizard, but bonds with a rare few. Only then can the wizard and the wand both achieve their full potential when they are properly paired. And the proper pairings come only, at least in my experience, when the wand chooses the wizard. Your brother’s experience serves as an excellent example of this. The wand knew before this young man even saw it,” turning to Jason he continued, “Your journey with this wand will be fascinating indeed, a partnership of great depth and purpose.”

Jason blushed slightly, shocking Alice who had never seen her brother get embarrassed by praise, he usually enjoyed it.

“I’m Jason, by the way,” Jason said, pulling his gaze away from his wand, the glow slowly fading. “Jason Connen.”

“Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Connen,” Ollivander whispered, the edges of his mouth pulling slightly as a smile.

Ollivander turned to the others, still standing near the doorway. He quirked his head as his gaze fell on Margo.

“Have we met?” he asked. Margo smiled slightly, though with a touch of pain.

“Yes, years ago, I was just a teenager. I came in with my brother for his wand. I’m Margo, Wallace now, but back then I was Margo Stewart,” she explained.  
Ollivander’s eyes widened slightly and he stared off into space above a shelf.

“Ah yes, your brother, young Mr. Stewart, Cypress, twelve and a half inches, with a unicorn hair core, if I recall correctly it was particularly bendy,” he recalled, mostly to himself.

“Yes, he was always bending it back and forth, I told him he would break it if he kept it up, but he never did,” Margo said, a sad smile touching her lips. Ollivander looked over at her, noticing her change in tone. His face grew grave.

“He died fighting Death Eaters did he not? What, twelve years ago?” Ollivander asked softly. Margo simply nodded, looking at the floor. Alice and Jason glanced at each other. Ollivander nodded then muttered, “Cypress, I should’ve known.”

The man’s posture quickly changed and he focused his gaze on Alice.

“Well, now, are you here simply supporting your brother, or are you also going to be in need of a wand today?” he asked her, lifting an eyebrow.

“I need a wand of my own,” Alice replied seriously. She stepped over to Mr. Ollivander, unsure as how to proceed as Jason’s choosing had been rare and so very, as Ollivander had said, interesting.

Ollivander snapped his fingers and a tape measure floated over and all by itself began measuring her arms, shoulders, full height, fingers, palm, basically everything, while Mr. Ollivander went back to the rows and rows of shelves stuffed full of boxes containing wands. He clambering nimbly up the rolling stairs and, after a moment of thought, plucked a box from the shelf and returned to the young girl. He snapped his fingers again and the tape measure fell lifelessly to the floor. Alice absentmindedly picked it up and placed it on the edge of the desk as Mr. Ollivander opened the box and delicately held out a wand to her.

“Spruce, ten and a quarter inches, swishy, with a dragon heartstring core, give it a flick,” he said.

Alice gently took the wand from Mr. Ollivander, it settling uncomfortably in her hand, but before she was even halfway through her flick he snatched it from her hand.

“No, no, no, that’s not it,” he muttered and returned the box to the shelves. He rolled the staircase down and climbed up even higher, plucking a new box and returning with it.

“Red Oak, twelve inches, unyielding, with a unicorn hair,” he muttered, again giving Alice the wand. She took it and hastily flicked it, trying to finish her flick before he snatched it away again. The wand felt strange in her hand, and as she flicked it a light overhead winked out.

“Erm, maybe not,” Ollivander retrieved the wand, returning it again and bringing another one.

It seemed to take hours, with Ollivander hustling back and forth bringing a new wand as apparently nothing was fitting. Alice swore she had gone through at least twenty wands, not finding a single one that felt right in her hand. She began to fearfully suspect that maybe the letter was wrong, maybe she wasn’t a wizard. If this were so, she would hate that Jason had gotten her hopes up for nothing. She had just been getting excited about having an explanation for her strangeness that didn’t make her insane. 

Ollivander returned, a bit breathlessly with another wand and handed it to Alice. She grabbed it, frustrated at first, but this one sat a bit better in her hand.

Ollivander noted her look of surprise, but again this one he took from her.

“Not yet, but close, hmm, walnut,” he thought to himself and quickly went back to the shelves. He pulled out a box and looked surprised at it. He returned, this time carrying the box with a much more serious and thoughtful aplomb. 

“A very handsome wand, Black Walnut, twelve and three-quarter inches, rigid, with a phoenix feather core,” he whispered.

“Like mine?” Jason interrupted. Ollivander nodded, staring at the wand he held.

“From the same phoenix too, interesting,” he muttered.

“Well, we are twins,” Alice quirked an eyebrow. Ollivander looked at her intently before smiling. He held out the wand to her.

Alice slowly reached out to take the wand, and as soon as her fingertips brushed the wood her skin flooded with warmth. Taking the wand in hand it seemed to fit perfectly, like it had been made for her. Which, according to Ollivander, it basically had been. The wand’s tip flickered with white light and silvery tendrils seemed to snake out of it to form ghostly lines as Alice swished it.

“Yes, there it is,” Ollivander grinned. 

Alice couldn’t stop the smile from tugging at her lips.

“Black Walnut wands tend to seek owners with good instincts and powerful insight, and can be the most loyal and impressive of wands with a particular flare for charms. However, I must warn you. It has a unique quirk in that it is abnormally attuned to inner conflict. Should you practice self-deception, being unwilling to be honest with yourself or others, you will lose its loyalty and it will not perform adequately and will have to be paired with a new master,” Ollivander whispered, making his dramatic words seem even more ominous.

Alice looked up at him, her smile slipping. She looked down at her wand, but, reflecting, she realized that she was pretty honest with herself, and particularly self-aware.

“You know what?” She began, tucking the wand into her jacket pocket, which was a bit too small so a bit less than half of the wand stuck out. “I don’t think that’ll be a problem, Mr. Ollivander.”

The old wandmaker smiled at her. 

The twins and Mrs. Wallace thanked him and finally left the shop. Stepping out into Diagon Alley once more, the three were momentarily blinded by the bright sunlight. Alice could’ve sworn that with all the time it had taken trying to find her wand that it should’ve been night by now, but apparently it hadn’t taken as long as she thought.

“We have one last stop, and then it’s back home!” Mrs. Wallace said cheerfully and led the kids out into the street. They weaved in and out of groups of wizards, many of which were families with kids getting their supplies as well. Finally Mrs. Wallace brought them to Eeylops Owl Emporium and Magical Menagerie.

“Well, that’s a mouthful,” Jason commented. Alice grinned, and the two followed Mrs. Wallace into the building.

They were struck by the noise and smell. But this didn’t dampen their mood as they saw what the items on sale were. Pets!

Well, not normal pets. It was mostly owls, cats, rats, and toads. Which, the twins now recalled, their lists had said they could bring to school.

“I would offer you both one, but I’d think you’d like to save some of your wizard money for a while until you can start earning some more. So for now you’re going to have to share one,” Mrs. Wallace explained, a bit disheartened. The twins simultaneously hugged her. She was momentarily taken aback. She had gotten to know these kids, and like them, but Alice had always been a bit more reserved with the Wallaces, and this was the most affection she had ever shown the lady.

“Thank you,” the twins muttered into Mrs. Wallace’s shirt, before pulling away and rushing off to look at the animals. Margo followed.

The twins had all kinds of questions: Jason wanting to know all about the usefulness of each pet and the benefits and drawbacks to each, then after deciding that owls were the most practical, questioning which type was particularly fast or obedient; while Alice played with all of them and simply asked which one Margo thought was cuter or would most annoy Jason. 

The twins decided upon an owl, although Alice had taken a liking to a beautiful black cat, but she explained to Margo that they were both slightly allergic to cats. Not that that had stopped their family from having cats and dogs before, but they were going to school and she wasn’t sure she really wanted to worry about finding a potion to alleviate itchy noses. Now it was simply agreeing on which owl.

“This Screech Owl looks so cool! It’s like he has horns! Come on! How can you pass that up?” Alice demanded, pointing to a particularly ruthless looking Screech Owl in a cage above them.

“But Brown Owls have excellent directional hearing. It will come much more in handy. You wouldn’t want our mail to get lost, or be days late because our owl got lost, would you?” Jason retorted.

The twins began bickering, which was beginning to turn into an all-out fight with name-calling and possibly violence initiated by Alice. Margo quickly stepped in.

“Kids!” she called over them, silencing them both. “What about a barn owl?” she suggested, pointing to a very cute and friendly looking barn owl in a cage nearby.

The twins cast her identical looks of patronization that said clearly that the barn owl was not even in the running, what did she think she was doing?

Margo had to stifle a laugh.

“While the Brown Owl has excellent hearing and directional skills, and the Screech Owl is very agile and cool-looking, the Barn Owl has an acute sense of hearing for directional and defensive purposes, while it is also very common to Britain,” she explained. The twins didn’t seem to see how this was important. “Which means that a Barn Owl flying around our neighborhood wouldn’t be nearly as conspicuous as a Screech of Brown Owl.”

The twins both considered her proposal and apparently found it acceptable for they shook hands and Alice grabbed the cage gently down from its hook. She had befriended it before they reached the clerk, make cooing sounds and sticking her fingers in between the cage bars to stroke the owl’s feathers.

* * *

 

“I think we should name him Gus,” Alice pronounced as the three of them pulled into the Wallace’s driveway.

“Gus? Why?” Jason asked incredulously.

“Because it’s cute, and he’s cute,” she said, cooing at the owl as they climbed out of the car.

“That’s not a good enough reason. At least let’s name it after a historical figure. I’ve been reading up a lot on figures in the Wizarding World! How about Andros? He was a Greek who supposedly could cast a Patronus the size of a giant!” Jason prattled excitedly, walking through the front door. Alice rolled her eyes as she came in behind him.

“No one cares! And he’s not an ‘Andros’!” she spat as though the mere thought was ridiculous.

“He could be!” Jason retorted. Approaching the cage he leaned toward the bars. “Are you an Andros? I think so, I think you like the name. Andros?” he prompted the owl. It ignored him and scratched under its wing.

“See, he doesn’t like it,” Alice stated simply. Jason made a face at her, which she returned. She tapped her finger to her chin thoughtfully. “No Gus, no Andros, hmm, what are some other wizards you’ve been reading about? Cool ones, I don’t want any that were lame like, they discovered the proper thickness of cauldrons or something like that. And no A-names, or S.”

“Well, there’s Glanmore Peakes, who slayed the Sea Serpent of Cromer,” Jason offered.

“Glanmore?” Alice mocked.

“I was thinking Peakes,” Jason explained. The two then began calling to the owl with ‘Peakes’ with no luck. “Okay, here’s one you’ll like, Merwyn the Malicious created a ton of hexes and jinxes,” Jason grinned. Alice’s face shon.

“Awesome,” she breathed. But again, the name had no effect, much to Alice’s dismay. “What else have you got?”

“Well, there’s Tilly Toke,” Jason began, but before he could detail the man’s accomplishments, the barn owl hooted. The twins looked at each other.

“Tilly?” Alice directed to the owl. It looked at her and hooted again. She shrugged at Jason. “Well, there we have it, his name is Tilly, what did his namesake do?”

“He was awarded the Order of Merlin, First Class, for saving a bunch of Muggles when a dragon swooped down on a beach of sunbathers.”

“Well, look at that Tilly, you’re a hero,” she told the owl, who shook his feathers as if loving the praise. The twins grinned and then raced up the stairs.

Margo smiled and headed for the kitchen, just catching Alice’s words.

“Hey, what’s an Order of Merlin anyway?”


	3. Woken Up in the Middle of the Night by my Parents. Don't Appreciate It. #They'reStillDead

Alice’s eyes flared open, her mind immediately alert though it was the middle of the night. She shot up to a sitting position and scanned her room quickly as her hand went, now instinctively to her wand on the night table.

Some strange noise had woken her, as it had for several nights previous. She couldn’t seem to find the source of the noise, but she would get it this time.

Tilly was on his perch in his cage, the door open as Alice couldn’t make herself keep him locked up. He also tended to get quite loud at night when locked up, as Alice had learned the hard way the first couple of nights. He had hooted, and clawed and bit at the cage all throughout the night. Alice had at first thought he wanted to go hunting, but after opening his cage door, after trying, and failing, to ignore him from two to three in the morning, he had remained inside but now content. It wasn’t any specific thing he wanted to do, he apparently just wanted the option, the choice. Alice had then learned, after the first night of simply leaving his cage door open, that Tilly got quite active at night and got lonely after a while, for Alice was woken by Tilly perching on her shoulder and nudging her with his beak at four in the morning. After that she left her window open too, and that seemed to have solved the problem. 

But she still wasn’t getting a full night’s sleep. Now this strange noise was waking her.

Alice tossed the covers back and quickly leapt off of the bed and away from the edge. Not that she was still afraid of monsters under her bed, but she had recently learned that goblins, giants, and nasty little creatures called red caps existed and she wasn’t gonna take the chance that one was just waiting to grab her feet from under the bed. 

She leaned down to peer under the bed and found it empty beneath. Nodding satisfactorily, Alice straightened up and began to investigate the rest of her room. First beginning with the closet, as, after the bed, it was the next likely source of dark creatures. Alice’s heart began to race as she thought she saw a scaly arm hiding behind one of her sweaters. She quickly snatched at it and had a brief struggle with what turned out to be one of her leather jackets. Glaring over at Tilly, who hooted teasingly, she made him swear never to tell anyone. Considering Tilly didn’t speak English, she figured she was safe on that end.

A thorough investigation of her room produced no results. Alice was about to give up and hope the sound had finally ceased and wouldn’t return the next night, but Tilly was looking strangely confident. Walking over to his cage she narrowed her eyes at the owl, who cooed and ruffled his feathers before nodding down towards the bottom of the cage. Alice followed his motion to find a small, strange rodent-type creature. But it wasn’t a normal rodent, Alice knew it must be some sort of magical creature. It was still and silent, but guessing from the fact that it wasn’t eaten yet it must’ve been a recent catch of Tilly’s. Maybe it had been the strange noise that woke her. And maybe Tilly had brought one back each time since Alice had opened the window.

Feeling confident in her deduction, Alice stroked Tilly and returned to bed. But she couldn’t fall asleep. Not for fear, but from anxiety: September 1st was only three days away and she would be starting school at a magic school!

She tossed and turned for a while but after two hours passed she gave up. It was then that she heard the noise again, and now she knew it wasn’t Tilly’s late night meals because the one currently in his cage was thoroughly dead. Groaning in frustration, Alice flopped out of bed to again search for the source of the noise. She scoured the room but found nothing. But for the first time in a week the sound repeated itself. This time she located it: a small box on her bookshelf.

Quirking her eyebrow, Alice drew the box from the shelf and sat down with it at the window seat. Alice steeled herself as she slowly opened it, finding the face of her father staring up at her. Her brother too, and herself, it was a picture from a few years ago, when they went to a baseball game. Jason had excitedly explained the rules and entire history of the game to her and their dad, who just gave each other _that_ look and smiled. Alice had found the game rather boring, and her dad had continually messed up the terms. Mistakenly calling the ball a quaffle, and mentioning that home runs would be easier to catch if the outfielders were on flying brooms.

The family in the picture moved, her dad ruffling her and her brother’s hair as they ducked away making faces before laughingly falling back into place. Alice’s stomach was doing flips and flutters as she realized the meaning behind her father’s comments, which until now she thought had simply been his fanciful imagination and lack of sports knowledge. Now she realized that her father, if he had not himself been a wizard, had at least known about the wizarding world and the game called quidditch that Margo had explained to the twins at Diagon Alley, passing the Quality Quidditch Supplies store.

Her father’s picture grinned and waved up at her, but she slammed the box shut in her picture-dad’s face. Her whole life suddenly felt like a lie that her father had told her and Jason. The knowledge that he had kept such a big part of their life from them know seemed a betrayal. What would their lives have been like if he had raised them in their magic? Would he even have died in that plane crash? Maybe she or Jason would’ve been able to stop it with magic.

The box fell out of Alice’s numb fingers as she stared out the window trying to blink back tears and stifle the knot in her throat that was threatening to choke her. Blinking rapidly, by sheer force of will, Alice cleared her throat and eyes and took a deep breath. It was no use thinking those thoughts. “Could’ve been”s got you nowhere in life; her Aunt K had told her that. She had been talking about a big deal her company missed out on, but the point remained.

Tilly landed lightly on Alice’s lap after fluttering across the room. His claws dug painfully into Alice’s leg, and she knew she would find holes in her pajama pants in the morning, but she welcomed his presence. Stroking his feathers, Alice looked to him.

“You don’t worry about ‘could have been’s do you?” she asked the owl, who blinked. “No, owls don’t think about that kind of stuff. You worry about hunting rodents and having your cage door open, keeping your feathers clean, that kind of stuff.”

Alice pressed her forehead against Tilly’s, who remained still as if knowing she needed this. And she really thought that in a way he really did.

“Thank you,” Alice murmured. She leaned back and Tilly hooted before flapping back to his cage where he perched on top of it. Alice got up and went to return to bed but noticed the box fallen to the floor. It had opened and the picture lay on the floor, but so did something else: a small locket. A faint light was beeping from between the cracks and it made the noise that had been keeping her up for weeks.

Alice picked up the locket and opened it. It was empty but for a tiny mirror. As soon as she opened it though, the mirror flashed and “1 message” appeared in writing on the glass. Alice furrowed her brow and poked the mirror which instantly changed from a reflection of herself in a dark room in pajamas to… well, someone that looked quite a lot like her, only older and on a snow-covered street in a robe. It could only be one person: her mom.

Her mother looked young, early twenties probably, but tired. Her eyes were red and the image shook, like she was holding a camera but her hands were shaking.

“Hey, babe. I’m on my way to the house but just wanted to see you… and the twins,” her voice wavered a bit but she heaved a deep sigh and continued on. “With all that’s happened, just wanted to make sure you guys were okay.” Her eyes were teary and a few began to leak out and roll down her cheeks. She wiped her nose. “Just call back when you can, okay? I love you.”

The image disappeared, the mirror once more showing Alice’s reflection. 

Alice dropped onto the edge of her bed, the locket still open in her hand. She wasn’t entirely sure what the locket was, but it acted almost like a portable video phone. Her parents had used it to see and talk to each other when apart, and apparently leave messages for each other. If both her parents had used this then that meant that both of them had probably been magic.

It seemed to make sense. Ever since she could remember Alice had been raised like a Muggle. Her dad never used magic. Although, now that she thought about it; the memories came back in droves. Alice had always wondered how, when she called for her dad to pick her up early from something, he had been there in less than a minute. She also could've sworn that after getting home from school early she saw the dishes washing themselves. And then another time her brother got a nosebleed and the blood stained his shirt. When their dad was staunching the blood flow Alice could've sworn she saw him whisper something and the blood on Jason's shirt vanished. Apparently her dad had used magic all the time just not when they were paying attention.

But then why would he hide it from them? Why not raise them in the world that both he and their mom had come from? Unless that was the point. In the message, her mom seemed sad and little scared. Something had happened to her mom, something probably having to do with magic. Alice was already figuring out that not all magical things were good, some were dangerous. Maybe her dad had been trying to protect them from the dangers of magic. From whatever happened to their mom.

Alice sighed and along with the breath, it was like she was expelling something else too: a bit of resentment towards her dad for not telling her. And probably a bit of resentment towards her mom for leaving too… This world was bigger and crazier than Alice could’ve imagined. She probably wouldn’t ever know why her dad hid magic from her and Jason, or why her mom disappeared, so she needed to stop blaming them for it. They were both gone now, but they left her and Jason the magic.

“Maybe it’s their legacy to us,” Alice said out loud, glancing over at Tilly on top of his cage. The owl ruffled his feathers and settled in. Alice put the locket and the picture back in the box and replaced it on the shelf. She went back to her bed and, as she pulled up the covers, muttered, “I just talked to an owl. I don’t think magical powers can explain that away.” Tilly hooted in agreement. Alice cast Tilly a teasing glare before snuggling down into her covers and falling asleep.

For the rest of the nights in the Wallace’s house, Alice slept soundly through the night, no longer woken by a strange sound.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah, so the talking to Tilly thing, and the realizing it, was totally a play off that tumblr post making fun of Harry for asking Hedwig "Who am I?"


	4. Woah, that was a big brick wall

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes, the title is an avps joke, there will be nods to avpm, avps, avpsy throughout this series because they're great and I love them, as well as just general jokes, headcanons, popular posts throughout the fandom so if you recognize something it's probably because of that

Mrs. Wallace gently rapped her knuckles on the door to Alice’s bedroom. Not hearing a response she slowly opened the door, completely expecting Alice to still be in bed. The girl tended to sleep late, probably because she stayed up late every night doing weird things like rearranging her bookshelf or bouncing a ball off her wall repeatedly or even tying all her sheets together, tying one end to her bed post and tossing the other end out the window, and climbing down just to see if she could.

Instead, Margo found Alice jumping on her suitcase trying to force it closed. She quickly stopped and sat on her suitcase, looking innocent when she heard the door squeak open. The room looked as if a hurricane had hit in the night, with clothes and miscellaneous objects strewn across the floor. Every closet door and drawer was hanging open having been ransacked of their contents. It looked as though Alice had tried to pack up her entire room at first, but finding that impossible hadn’t gotten around to putting anything away.

“Good morning, Mrs. Wallace,” Alice smiled, as though nothing was amiss.

“Good morning, Alice, need some help?” Margo asked, her lips twitching.

“Well, unless you know a spell that could make my suitcase bigger, or put all my stuff back where it belongs I’m not too sure,” she replied.

Margo walked inside and over to Alice, still sitting on her suitcase.

“You know you don’t have to bring everything you own?” Margo teased. Alice sighed, standing up off of the suitcase.

“I know, but I hate packing. I never know what to bring. I’ve repacked like twenty times already!” Alice explained in frustration.

“How long have you been up?” Margo asked curiously.

“Oh, I never went to bed,” Alice replied nonchalantly.

“Alice!” Margo scolded. Alice wasn’t paying attention. “Well, maybe you can sleep on the train.”

“Is Jason ready?” Alice asked as she tossed open her suitcase. She had simply thrown everything in there haphazardly, not bothering to fold a thing. Margo helped her unpack it.

“He’s been packed since yesterday morning,” Margo answered. Alice clicked her tongue and shook her head.

The two managed to unpack Alice’s mess of a suitcase and sort through her things into a manageable order. Mrs. Wallace helped her in deciding what was necessary and non-essential, which proved invaluable as Alice had completely forgotten to pack her school books. Mrs. Wallace was an excellent packer from years of experience ranging from camping trips to helping her brother pack for Hogwarts. The suitcase was still a bit packed, but having Alice sit on top of it while Margo zipped it shut made it work.

Mrs. Wallace helped Alice take her suitcase downstairs to place by the door. Alice had to dash back upstairs to grab Tilly’s cage after his reproachful hoot reminded her that she had left him. With everything ready by the door, Mrs. Wallace and Alice joined the boys for breakfast.

Alice couldn’t eat. Her stomach was in such turmoil from excitement and nerves that she knew she wouldn’t be able to keep anything down. She managed to choke down a few nibbles of an orange at Mrs. Wallace’s behest. In just a few hours she would be getting on a train, for the first time mind you, and heading to a magical boarding school, another first, and her tummy didn’t seem able to decide how it felt about that.

The twin telepathy was clearly off that morning as Jason couldn’t stop talking about it in between shoveling eggs into his mouth.

“And when we get there, we’ll be sorted into one of four houses! Each house is associated with certain characteristics, although if you ask, supposedly you can be placed in anything. Slytherin is for ambitious people, Hufflepuff for loyal and friendly people,” Alice snorted at that. “Gryffindor for the brave, and Ravenclaw is supposed to be the intelligent or creative kids!”

“Well, you can skip the ceremony then, ‘cause we already know that’s where you’ll be sorted,” Alice grumbled, a little miffed at Jason for being so cheery and casual about this. They were going to a magic school with a ton of kids that had been raised in magical households. Alice just knew that she would make a fool of herself because of her lack of knowledge. But besides the magical aspect, going to a new school was always tough. A year ago, Alice had been all set to go to middle school with her best friends growing up. Not only was she going to a school without her friends, it was in a completely different country! How was she supposed to make friends with people from a different country? Would they even give her a chance?

Alice’s gloomy musings continued on the drive to King’s Cross train station, and Jason’s ceaseless chatter continued too. Alice began to rethink the problem of lack of knowledge, at this rate she would probably know more about the wizarding world than the kids raised in it!

Mr. Wallace hadn’t been too involved with them since Mr. Flitwick delivered their letter. He was content with his Muggle world and knowledge, and he found all this talk of magic a bit disconcerting. It didn’t really help that his wife had apparently jumped right on in! So he and Preston stayed in the car while Mrs. Wallace took the twins inside the station.

Tilly squawked, perturbed, as his cage rattled from Alice’s cart bumping into someone else’s.

“Sorry,” Alice apologized breathlessly, both to the person she bumped into and to the owl. Her hair had fallen into her face so she only caught sight of the person she had bumped into for a moment, but something about the woman seemed familiar. Alice spun around to look after the woman but she couldn’t spot her, she had disappeared into the crowd. Alice frowned.

“Come on, Alice! We’re gonna miss the train!” Jason complained as he raced ahead. Alice turned back, grumbling that that wasn’t all he was gonna miss today.

Mrs. Wallace helped Alice straighten out her cart and led her after Jason. They eventually caught up with him where he was staring, perplexed, between the signs for platform 9 and platform 10. Alice, her eyebrows knitting together, pulled her ticket out of her pocket to look at it again.

“Platform 9 ¾? I knew this whole thing was impossible!” she exclaimed.

“Not so fast, Miss Pessimist,” Mrs. Wallace teased. “The platform is protected from Muggles. It’s between these two platforms,” she explained.

“Bu there’s just a brick wall between these platforms,” Jason replied.

Alice got it. Or at least, she thought she did. She wheeled her cart up in front of the wall between the signs for platforms 9 and 10. She glanced over at Mrs. Wallace for verification, who smiled and nodded. Alice prayed that she was right, ‘cause if not this was really gonna hurt. She went ahead and apologized to Tilly, just in case.

Alice jogged straight at the wall—

And passed through it and into a bustling platform. Looking up she saw a sign declaring that she was in the right place. Just remembering that Jason was gonna be coming shortly after her she hastily maneuvered her cart out of the way of the entrance. Just in time too, as Jason, and Mrs. Wallace shortly after, burst through right where Alice had been standing.

“Woah!” Jason’s eyes were bigger than the moon. He turned to Alice. “How did you know the wall wasn’t real?”

“I didn’t, I just guessed,” she shrugged. Jason stared at her incredulously.

“You’re crazy,” he laughed, shaking his head.

“No! I’m magical!” she replied, bumping her shoulder into his.

“Let’s get you guys onboard,” Mrs. Wallace said and the three headed over to the train. 

A bunch of the doors were packed with people getting onboard, so they tried to weave their way through the crowd towards the back where they could find a less crowded door. Maneuvering her cart wasn’t one of Alice’s skills however and it wasn’t long before she crashed right into another kid’s cart. The carts toppled, spilling their contents into a heap, on which the kids landed after having flipped over the handle bars of their carts.

“Ow,” Alice groaned, sitting up.

“You said it, mate,” the other kid said.

They both extricated themselves from the heap of luggage as their families hastened over to help. Alice finally got a good look at the kid. He was stocky, with a mat of bright red hair, and a face smattered with freckles. Suddenly, Alice was seeing double and she at first wondered if she hadn’t hit her head a bit hard. Then she realized; twins.

“Sorry, I’m not a professional cart driver,” Alice apologized.

“Really, I could’ve sworn!” The twin she had crashed into laughed. “I’m George! George Weasley!” he greeted her cheerfully and held out a hand. She shook it, looking at him a bit strange.

“Alice, Alice Connen,” she returned.

“Oi! What kinda accent is that?” his twin asked, coming up behind George to lean against him.

“Says the Brit!” she laughed, but then explained, “I’m American.”

“What’re you doing here then?” George asked curiously.

“Exchange program,” Jason answered, righting Alice’s cart.

“This is my twin, Jason,” she said, nodding over at him.

The twins hit at each other with the back of their hands to make sure the other heard.

“Oi, ya hear that Fred?” George asked his twin, who was apparently named Fred.

“I do indeed, George. We’re in the midst of our own kind!” he said awestruck, but for some reason everything out of the twins’ mouths sounded like a joke. Alice liked that.

“Well, I don’t get mistaken for my brother too often like I’m sure you guys do, but yeah, I mean we’ve got the twin telepathy thing, right Jason?” she called over to him. Jason dropped a box on his foot.

“What?” he snapped. Alice and the twins laughed.

“Well, maybe not so much,” she grinned.

“So’s this yer first year, then?” George asked.

Their carts were finally filled again, but Alice and the twins continued talking.

“Yeah,” she sighed. Tilly squawked at her indignantly, upset at being toppled. Alice made a face at him in response.

“Oi! You’ve got yer own owl! Wicked!” Fred exclaimed.

“Yeah, this is Tilly. Well, my brother and I share him,” she explained then continued in a dramatic whisper, “He likes me better though.”

“Excellent! Our family’s got an owl, Errol ‘is name is, he’s pretty useless though, he’s probably older than us!” George said.

“Well, you can use Tilly here any time you’d like,” Alice offered.

“Thanks!” the twins said in unison.

“Fred! How did you get into this mess? Did you apologize to this girl?” a red-headed older woman howled, coming towards the twins. She was obviously Mrs. Weasley.

“Oi! I didn’t do it! It was George! You call yourself our mother!” Fred returned in mock indignation.

“Actually, Ma’am, it was my fault,” Alice piped up. Mrs. Weasley turned to her, her face softening.

“She’s right, mum,” George agreed, nodding. Mrs. Weasley glared at him before turning back to Alice.

“Oh, my dear, pay no mind to these boys! You aren’t hurt are you? That was a nasty little crash. I’m Molly Weasley,” Mrs. Weasley cooed.

“Oh, I’m fine, and nice to meet you, I’m Alice,” Alice replied.

“Is this your first year, my dear?” Mrs. Weasley asked.

“Yes, it is Ma’am,” Alice replied politely.

“Oh, my dear, call me Molly please! Oh, you’ll love Hogwarts, but you’ll have to watch out for these boys! They’re going back for their second year. Are you alone dear?” Molly asked kindly.

“Oh, no Ma—Molly. My foster family is here with me and my brother,” Alice replied.

“Oh, is he going too?” Molly asked as Jason stood next to Alice.

“Yes, it’s our first year,” Jason answered.

“Twins,” Molly smiled, but there was a hint of wariness as if she was suspecting they were another Fred and George. Mrs. Weasley honestly wondered if Hogwarts could handle two sets of them in one year! “Oh, and this must be your foster mother!” Molly exclaimed as Mrs. Wallace came over.

“Yes, hi, I’m Margo Wallace!” Mrs. Wallace greeted Mrs. Weasley. 

A shrill whistle peeled through the air, halting further conversation.

“Oh! Boys! Let’s go! Get your stuff on the train!” Mrs. Weasley called out to a group of red-headed boys in a wide range of ages.

“We need to do the same,” Mrs. Wallace told the twins. “It was nice to meet you, especially considering the circumstances.”

“Oh, yes! I wish you the best of luck in your first year!” Mrs. Weasley called after the twins as she hurried along after her sons.

Mrs. Wallace and the twins managed to find a clear door and get all their stuff on board. The twins said their goodbyes to Margo and then climbed aboard. 

Just as they entered the hall, a scream sounded, muffled through the walls and the door had just shut behind them. Alice and Jason quickly turned to each other, affirming that they both heard the noise and the subsequent sounds of a commotion coming from the platform. They were near the back so they quickly found an open compartment and threw their stuff inside before going to the window.

On the platform, people were looking around a bit warily and a few wizards in uniform, wands out, were clustered and moving off along the back. Whatever the commotion had been, however, had ended. Alice was a bit disappointed.

The train began to move and the twins spotted Margo and waved goodbye to her. She waved after them, alongside all the other families waving to their children. 

Margo remembered when she had done this last; she saw her brother off for his fifth year at Hogwarts. After that, Margo went to college and always left before him. For a moment, it was his train that was disappearing into the distance, instead of that of the two young kids that had brought her back to the magic.

She watched until she could no longer spot the two hanging out the window before turning back to the nervous crowd. Several groups disapparated the instant the train went out of sight. Others hastened off back through the gate.

The wizard who had tried to stun the conductor had been apprehended almost immediately. Though there hadn’t been a major threat in the wizarding world for a decade, the incident reminded everyone that there were still those who had partaken in the dark years walking free. Margo remembered the threat vividly, but it wasn’t Death Eaters that worried her. 

What worried her was that the wizard had had an American accent.

* * *

 

The train quickly pulled them out of sight of Mrs. Wallace, sending the twins, who had been leaning out of the window waving at her, to lean back in and plop into the seats.

“I’m gonna miss her,” Jason stated.

“Yeah, me too,” Alice echoed, surprised that it was true.

The twins were silent for a moment, the only sounds those of the train and the air whooshing past. That silence was interrupted as the door to their compartment slid open to reveal the Weasley twins. The open door let in the sounds of laughter.

“Oi! There you are! Why’re you two in here on your own?” asked Fred.

“Uh, maybe because we don’t know anyone?” Alice offered, quirking her eyebrow. Fred waved her off.

“Sure you do! You know us! Come along down to our compartment!” George declared.

The twins shrugged and followed the red-headed twins down to their compartment, where upon sliding open the door, a paper bird flew out, followed by some sort of firework, but was clearly magical as it danced in front of first Fred’s, and then George’s nose before shooting up above their heads and bursting into a shower of sparkles.

“Oi! That was supposed to be saved for the ceremony!” George scolded as they ducked into the compartment.

Inside was a dark-skinned boy with dreadlocks, holding what Alice assumed to be the container for the firework, a very pretty dark-skinned girl, and a cute tan-skinned girl. They laughed as Fred and George scolded them.

“This is Alice and Jason, they’re first-years,” Fred introduced them as he plopped down to sit next to the boy with dreadlocks.

“I’m Lee Jordan!” the boy introduced himself.

“I’m Angelina,” the dark-skinned girl chimed.

“Alicia,” the other girl waved.

“We’re all second years, and in Gryffindor, so, sorry, but it’s kind of a biased compartment,” Angelina grinned as Alice and Jason sat over on her side.

“But Gryffindor’s still the best!” Lee exclaimed. The others laughed but shushed him, the Weasley twins pelting him with anything they could get their hands on.

“So, which house do you guys think you’ll get? Or want to get?” Alicia asked, looking up from her seat on the floor.

“I’d like to be in Ravenclaw,” Jason shared. Fred grinned.

“Ah, so you’re a genius then?” he asked, the wheels in his mind working visibly.

Jason began to shrug it off, but Alice nodded vehemently, setting the compartment to laughter.

“Alright, what about you, Alice?” Lee asked.

“I don’t know,” she shied away from the question. Alice hated making predictions, for purely selfish reasons as she didn’t like to be proven wrong if she could help it.

“Aw, yes you do! I can see it!” George prodded.

“Probably Gryffindor,” she relented. The compartment cheered.

“Yeah, house of the brave, she certainly isn’t afraid of speaking her mind,” Jason commented.

“Yeah, he’s the brain and the filter, I’m the instinct and the mouth,” Alice agreed.

“Then you’d fit right in with us!” Angelina laughed.

“So, back to this, Jason being a genius thing. We’ve had this dream for years of doing,” Fred waved his hand ambiguously, “entrepreneurial work. Would you be interested in perhaps helping us figure out some enchantments for stuff, in the future of course, when you’re more versed in spell-work,” he propositioned.

“Sure, I guess, so long as I get a share,” Jason grinned. George snapped his fingers and laughed.

“He is a smart one!”

“Alright, deal!” Fred exclaimed and the two shook on it.

There was never a dull moment in the compartment, as everyone was either laughing at a story being told or laughing at jokes, or practical jokes played on each other within the compartment. This later reached too big a scale and they headed out on a mission to prank other compartments, starting with the Weasley’s older brothers, Percy and Charlie. Charlie was a senior and he took them setting off a dung bomb in his compartment pretty well. Percy was a fourth year who did not take well them casting a spell on him where every time he tried to talk, he hiccupped bubbles.

They returned to their compartment, all breathless from laughter, just in time for the candy lady to knock on their door. This created chaos as everyone was yelling and tossing money at George who was apparently managing the sale. He dumped a pile of strange candies in the center of the floor, to which everyone reached into, grabbing out their favorites.

“Jason, you’ve got to try Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans!” George said, grinning and shoving a box into Jason’s hand. Jason took it and picked out a light blue colored one and popped it into his mouth. As he chewed, his face scrunched more and more until he finally spit the jelly bean out.

“Ugh! That tastes like soap!” he spat.

“Then that’s probably what it was!” Fred laughed.

“Wait, so it’s like literally every flavor?” Alice asked.

“Any flavor you can imagine, they make it!” Lee grinned.

“I’d hate to get a vomit-flavored one!” she grimaced. They all laughed and Alice picked out the nearest chocolate item she could find. A Chocolate Frog.

“Okay, so Every Flavor Beans are literally every flavor, so is this a real frog?” she asked curiously, pulling off the outer plastic wrap.

“No, it’s chocolate, but it’s got an enchantment where it’ll hop around and ribbit like a frog,” Angelina explained.

“So eat it before it hops away! I don’t know how many I’ve lost out the window!” Alicia laughed.

Alice opened it up and grabbed the frog in a death grip before it could hop away. She then bit off the head, relishing in the sweet chocolate-y-ness.

“Oh, and they come with a card of a famous witch or wizard!” George mumbled, his mouth full.

Alice pulled out the card as she savored the chocolate. On one side was the picture of a young, handsome wizard smiling up at her. She flipped it over to find a description. Her jaw dropped.

She showed the card to Jason, who laughed.

“What’re we missing? Share!” Fred demanded, chuckling.

“It’s Tilly Toke. He saved a beach of Muggles from a dragon. We named our owl after him,” Alice explained.

“Weird that that’d be the first card we get,” Jason commented.

“If that fits your definition of weird, you’ve got to step it up! You go to a magic school now!” Lee Jordan grinned.


	5. There's Giants, Talking Hats, and Stars for Ceilings but the Most Magical Thing About Hogwarts is Definitely the Food

Alice didn’t end up getting any sleep on the train as Margo had suggested. The compartment was just too lively and involved and Alice loved it. They managed to track down the candy lady three more times to replenish their stock, and by the time it grew dark outside the window Alice was certain she would slip into a food-induced coma any second now.

The second-years had become convinced that Alice would be joining them in Gryffindor and that Jason would be heading into Ravenclaw. They weren’t disappointed a bit with this as they figured they would have an in with the smartest kids in school to help with work and exams. Jason made no promises though.

Even though Alice couldn’t sleep with all that was going on in the compartment, Lee Jordan apparently had no such issues. He was slumped in the corner, the side of his head leaning against the window, his eyes closed, and mouth open slightly. As soon as they were certain he was sound asleep, the Weasleys began messing with him.

George and Fred started a game of trying to stick as many things to Lee’s face as they could before waking him. They were up to three chocolate frog cards, twelve Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans, two licorice whips, a quill pen, and George was working on balancing a book on top of Lee’s head when the train gave a lurch.

Lee’s head banged against the window, instantly waking him. It took a few more seconds for him to realize all the stuff sticking to his face through sticking charms as the compartment rolled with laughter. Once she could breathe, Angelina explained the lurch and subsequent slowing of the train.

“Looks like we’re coming into the station!” she announced.

“Oh, I can’t wait for the feast! I’m starving!” George grinned.

“How? We’ve eaten practically the entire candy trolley!” Alicia asked incredulously.

“That’s candy! It doesn’t count!” Fred explained.

“We should probably go get our stuff,” Jason told Alice. She nodded in agreement and the twins waved goodbye to the second-years as they exited the compartment and made their way back to the one they had stuffed their suitcases into. The train had come to a complete stop by the time they got to the compartment, and the train whistle pealed out as they pulled their suitcases down from the overhead. A voice could be heard bellowing along the platform as they headed for the exit.

Alice hopped down off the train and onto the platform, her suitcase clattering down behind her. She and Jason entered the sea of students that were filing off the train. They could now understand the bellowing, and as it was calling out for first-years, they made their way through the crowd towards it.

The bellowing was issuing from a giant! Or so he appeared to the twins. The man must’ve been over seven feet tall and had a mass of dark hair and beard. He was wearing a big furry coat and holding a lantern out, hollering for first-years to follow him. The twins obeyed and got swept up into a smaller crowd of eleven year-olds trailing after the giant-man.

Forming their own little crowd apart from the rest of the student body, the giant-man told them to leave their things here. The students didn’t seem overly fond of the idea, but the man, who said his name was Hagrid, assured them that it would be well taken care of, and would make its way to the castle. Alice shrugged and left her suitcase, but then she saw Tilly in his cage. Hagrid apparently saw the dilemma Alice was facing and came over to her.

“He’ll be alright, dear! I can assure ye that yer owl will be safe and sound and waiting for ye up at the castle!” he said kindly.

“Is that a promise?” Alice asked the big man, staring up at him unflinchingly. Hagrid’s smile spread across his whole face.

“Cross my heart!” he chuckled and suited his actions to his words. Alice cast him a close-lipped smile before being herded off alongside the other students.

Hagrid led them off the platform and down a little path to a lake, where a dozen little boats were tied up. A huge and beautifully enchanting (Alice smirked) castle was outlined by the star-filled night sky across the water.

“All aboard!” Hagrid bellowed, and the kids clambered into the boats.

Alice had never been in a boat this little before, and she was a bit unsteady on her feet, so she quickly sat down before she could tumble out into the water and give everyone a nice laugh. Jason clambered in after her, setting the boat to rocking. After him came another little girl, this one pale-skinned with shining black hair.

Alice glanced around the bottom of the boat as Hagrid untied all the boats. She couldn’t find any oars, but before she could question how they were supposed to move the boats, the boats all began to drift out purposefully towards the school.

“Magic, duh, Alice!” she scolded herself mentally, but she was reassured that she wasn’t the only one that had missed this at first as other kids’ faces reflected awe and surprise as the boats propelled and navigated themselves.

The tiny fleet of boats made it across the lake with only one minor incident of a boy toppling out after trying to catch a fish. Hagrid had just scooped him out of the water and plopped him down in his own boat, never missing a beat. The boats bobbed up to a small landing beneath the castle. Here they all climbed out and were led into the castle and into a small room. 

A woman in long robes wearing spectacles and a pointed hat awaited them, and when they had all packed into the room, she greeted them.

“Welcome to Hogwarts. I’m Professor McGonagall. Now, in a few moments you will pass through these doors and join your classmates, but before you take your seats, you must be sorted into your houses,” Professor McGonagall began. The students looked around a bit nervously at this idea of ‘sorting.’ McGonagall continued, “They are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Now while you're here, your house will be like your family. Your triumphs will earn you points. Any rule breaking, and you will lose points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup.”

Jason knew all of this already, but Alice hadn’t been listening when he had explained all about the House points system, so she clung eagerly to the idea, already forming plans as to how not to get caught in any rule breaking. She figured she could probably defer to the Weasley twins in that aspect, they seemed like they had that figured out.

The pack of students could hear the din of students in the Great Hall and waited patiently for McGonagall to bring them in. In the meantime, the students started to introduce themselves. The girl who had ridden with Alice and Jason was still near them, and so she turned to them.

“Hi, I’m Katie,” she said somewhat nervously.

“Alice, and this is my brother Jason,” Alice introduced herself and Jason.

“Nice to meet you,” Jason added.

“Alright!” McGonagall called out, silencing all of the first-years and directing their attention to her. “Follow me.”

McGonagall led the students out of the small room and out into the front of the Great Hall. They passed in a line before a long table, which a bunch of older witches and wizards were seated behind. These must be the other professors, and Alice guessed that the old man in the larger chair behind the center of the table must be the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore. Turning to look out on the other side, Alice saw four incredibly long tables extending out towards the back of the hall, with hundreds of students crowded onto the benches along each side of the tables. Looking out at them, the one furthest right was filled with students wearing robes with green and silver badges and ties. Next to that one towards the center, the students were in blue and bronze, next to them, yellow and black, and on the far left, red and gold. The four houses. 

At the Gryffindor table she was able to easily pick out the Weasley twins with their flaming hair and they grinned and waved at her. She waved back as she made her way with the other first-years to the center of the room, where they formed a line facing the dais, where a stool sat, an old, floppy-looking hat seated atop it. McGonagall stood to the side of the stool, holding a list. The hall quieted and the hat on the stool began to move, a tear at the seam opening up, from which the hat began to sing!

 

_Once long ago, the founders four_

_Did join to build this school,_

_At which each would find their kind_

_To teach them useful tools._

 

_Godric Gryffindor did seek out_

_Those of bravery and daring,_

_Students of the courageous sort_

_Found with him a perfect pairing!_

 

_Dear Hufflepuff was kind hearted_

_And sought those of similar kind,_

_Welcoming the just, hard-working,_

_Loyal, and patient of mind._

 

_Wise Ravenclaw valued learning,_

_Cleverness, and creativity,_

_Those she sought were often curious,_

_And of a scholarly proclivity._

 

_Slytherin was cunning,_

_And ambitious in his endeavors,_

_Preferring to teach only those_

_Like-minded witches and wizards._

 

_In me they placed traits of all_

_To choose once they were gone,_

_I’ve never chosen wrong before,_

_So sit down and put me on!_

 

The hat ended its song and the students clapped politely. McGonagall held up her list and cleared her throat. As she lifted the hat, every eye turned to her.

“When I call your name, come up and sit on the stool, when the hat sorts you, you will join your house at the table,” she explained to the first-years. Alice’s stomach decided it wanted to be a gymnast.

“Abrams, Andrew!” McGonagall called out the first name. A slender boy with dark hair crept up to the stool and sat down. McGonagall lowered the hat onto his head where it contemplated for about thirty seconds before shouting out, “Ravenclaw!”

The Ravenclaw table erupted into cheers. Andrew slid off the stool shakily and made his way to the Ravenclaw table, grinning nervously as he was patted on the back by his fellow house members.

“Aster, Michael!” A boy with sandy-blonde hair approached the stool. Sitting down, McGonagall placed the hat on his head, the brim slipping down over his eyes at first before he quickly shoved it back a bit.

“Hufflepuff!” the hat declared, and McGonagall pulled it back off of Michael’s head.

The Hufflepuff table burst into cheers and whistles. Michael was welcomed to his house and crammed onto the benches as the ceremony continued.

“Beaumont, Emily!”

A little girl with blonde ringlets hopped up and plopped onto the stool. She hardly seemed nervous at all, with a huge smile on her face as McGonagall lowered the hat onto her head. It had barely slid past the first curls when it rang out, “Gryffindor!”

The Gryffindor table exploded, as if it just had to outdo the Ravenclaw table. The other houses applauded respectively, except for the Slytherin table. Emily slid off the stool and bounced over to the Gryffindor table where she was welcomed warmly.

“Bell, Katie,” McGonagall called out.

The dark-haired girl that had ridden in the boat with Alice and Jason took a deep breath before stepping up onto the dais. She took a seat on the stool and McGonagall lowered the hat onto the girl’s head. It was much too large and would’ve slipped down over her ears had her ponytail not held it up. The hat took a moment, a few mutterings from it were audible, but it wasn’t a full minute before it called out, “Gryffindor!” The Gryffindor table exploded into cheers once more, and welcomed Katie as she joined them on wobbly legs and sat beside Emily.

“Carmichael, Eddie!” 

“Ravenclaw!”

Alice was glancing around curiously, and quite by accident looked straight up to see hundreds of candles floating in mid-air against the night sky! Alice was sure that there was a ceiling, but when she looked up all she saw was a dark sky littered with pinpricks of light and what looked to be distant galaxies that she saw only in pictures developed by NASA. Right over her head a shooting star rocketed across the ceiling, for Alice was sure that there was a ceiling and that this phenomena must be an enchantment.

“Chang, Cho!”

“Ravenclaw!”

“Connen, Alice!”

Alice was flat-footed, not fully comprehending that her name had been called. Jason shoved her in the back, forcing her forward. She regained her balance from her brother’s shove and crept up to the stool, trying to appear calm and collected but knowing that everyone could see her legs shaking. She climbed up onto the stool, her feet dangling above the floor. Staring out into the sea of students, she saw every eye on her expectantly. She was glad that the hat came down low over her eyes so she could look at the brim of the hat instead of the hundreds of faces all turned on her. She started at a voice in her head.

“Hmm, interesting,” the hat said, but apparently only to her for she hadn’t heard it speak during any of the other kids, but it must’ve. “You are a bright one, but not in a bookish way, more instinctual. There’s ambition there and cunning. You’re not afraid of breaking some rules,” the hat told her. It was dead on. I mean, had she not just moments before been planning on how not to get caught breaking rules? “But there’s also loyalty that would keep you from pursuing goals by ‘any means necessary’ so Slytherin is out. I’m leaning towards Gryffindor,” it said.

“I’m cool with that,” she thought, hoping that the hat would hear her. It did.

“Alright then, Gryffindor!” It shouted out to the Great Hall.

Alice’s ears were burning as McGonagall lifted the hat from her head and the roars flooded the hall. Alice somehow managed to make her way to the Gryffindor table where the Weasley twins, Lee Jordan, Angelina Johnson, and Alicia Spinnet were cheering wildly. Alice couldn’t keep the grin from her face, nor the blush. The second-years opened up a seat with them for her to sit, all of them congratulating her. Alice muttered her thanks and then everyone turned their attention to the front of the hall, where her brother would be next.

“Connen, Jason!”

Jason appeared much more confident walking up to the stool. His feet didn’t touch the ground either, they were a short pair. McGonagall lowered the Sorting Hat onto Jason’s head, but it just barely touched his forehead before shouting out, “Ravenclaw!”

Alice cheered for her brother, but she had to admit that part of her was disappointed they wouldn’t be in the same house. She’d be on her own.

“Edgecomb, Marietta!” a girl with curly, reddish-blonde hair seemed to trudge up to the stool.

“Ravenclaw!”

“Grayson, Gabriella!” a tall girl with tawny brown, freckled skin and dark hair and eyes gracefully made her way up to the stool. The Sorting Hat actually took a little while with her, taking almost two minutes before it shouted out, “Hufflepuff!”

“Hinkel, Elizabeth!” a girl with straight, light brown hair crept up to the stool and sat. When McGonagall put the big floppy hat on her, it just made the girl seem that much smaller. Her hands clutched onto the stool as she awaited the hat’s decision. It didn’t take too long for it to announce, “Gryffindor!”

After a while, Alice stopped paying as much attention to each individual kid. She heard the names called out and their houses declared, but there were just so many kids. This always happened, having a name at the beginning of the alphabet, she got bored with the rest.

“Jones, Henry!”

“Ravenclaw!”

“Koontz, Lionel!”

“Hufflepuff!”

 “McLaggen, Cormac!”

“Gryffindor!”

Alice cheered along with the other Gryffindors as Cormac swaggered over to the table. Just from his walk over, Alice decided that she probably wouldn’t like him. He seemed pretty cocky, even for an eleven year-old! A string of Hufflepuffs and Slytherins were called out, and she didn’t pay much heed besides politely clapping while trying to stifle a yawn. This proved much harder than it seemed as she covered her mouth with one hand and thus clapped her hand on her leg, but it didn’t produce the same effect.

“Parks, Cole!”

“Gryffindor!”

The table jolted back to life, and Cole found a spot across from Alice next to Fred Weasley, who grabbed hold of the boy and kissed him on the top of the head. Cole looked a bit shocked, simply causing the group to laugh louder.

Another string of students, mostly the other houses, but they did manage one other Gryffindor, a girl named Leanne who sat next to Katie Bell. Finally, there was only one student left, for which Alice was grateful, her stomach seemed ready to eat itself she was so hungry.

“Ward, Thomas!”

“Gryffindor!”

After a final eruption from the crimson and gold table, Professor McGonagall took the hat and stool away. The Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, stood up and the Great Hall quieted, everyone’s attention on him. Alice finally managed to get a good look at him, as during the sorting ceremony she really only had eyes for the Sorting Hat and Professor McGonagall as she anxiously awaited her name to be called. Dumbledore was clearly very old, with long white hair and a long white beard, but he didn’t seem stooped. He stood tall and with an air of authority and power. He had a kindly face, half-moon spectacles resting on the tip of his nose, and wore a tall pointed hat with stars on it. To be honest, he looked like what Alice had always pictured when she thought ‘wizard.’

Dumbledore peered out over the hall, and for a second, Alice could’ve sworn his eyes landed directly on her for a brief second before passing on. He addressed the entire room.

“Welcome!” his voice rang out clearly through the hall. “Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! I’ll keep this short as I’m not sure if there’s an ogre invasion from all the grumbling or if that’s just my tummy!” the hall rang with laughter. Alice liked this old man. “But I do have a few words I’d like to say. Petrichore! Swizel! Flubber! Twit!” Alice’s brows furrowed at the strange words, but her attention was soon grabbed the appearance of food in the dishes on the table! “Thank you!” Dumbledore called out once more before retiring to his own seat where he dug into a turkey, prying off a leg.

The hall immediately set to the feast and Alice hastily dove in. There was turkey and gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans, ham, what appeared to be mutton but she wasn’t quite sure, goulash, soups of all kind, spinach puffs, and that was all just within reach! Alice sliced off a slab of turkey, plopped a mountain of mashed potatoes on her plate, and was digging into the spinach puffs when a dish of linguine with clam sauce was passed into view, making her mouth water even more. It was as if the cooks had raided Alice’s mind for her favorite dishes.

The hall quieted a bit as everyone began eating, but once their ravenous hunger was lessened by the first dozen or so bites, the noise grew.

“So,” Lee Jordan said in between his gnawing of a turkey leg. “We’re second-years, which means—“

“Quidditch try-outs!” Angelina finished. “I’ve been practicing with my dad all summer to make the team!” she explained excitedly. Fred and George paused from flinging spoonfuls of goulash at their brother Percy to join the conversation.

“Yeah, we’ve been trying out our batting!” George grinned.

“Garden gnomes make excellent make-shift bludgers!” Fred added. The crowd laughed. Alice vaguely remembered Mrs. Wallace’s explanation of the game Quidditch, but it was more her dad’s words that came back to her as the second-years talked about it. Every weird thing he had said during baseball games suddenly made sense as the group further discussed the game with her. It was unlike any sport she was familiar with, and any attempt she made at comparisons just made her more confused so she dropped it.

“We can teach you how to play, Alice! Although you can’t try out for the Gryffindor Quidditch team until your second year,” Alicia told her.

“Speaking of try-outs,” George said and then leaned forward to shout down the table at an older boy with brown hair. “Hey! Wood! When’s try-outs?” George hollered.

“Second week of school!” Oliver Wood called back.

“We better win this year! Gryffindor hasn’t won the Quidditch Cup since our brother Charlie’s early years here,” Fred explained.

“Really? Do we suck?” Alice asked bluntly.

Alicia and Angelina looked at her in shock and shouted “No!” as the boys nodded and said “Yes.” The girls then glared at them. They shrugged.

“Well, you can only blame so much on no-calls!” Fred commented.

“That’ll change!” Lee Jordan said assuredly.

“How? Are you going to take Madam Hooch’s job?” George teased.

“No! But I’m gonna be the announcer! And if something’s not called you can bet I will make that clear for the rest of the school year!” Lee grinned proudly.

“Oh, you’ve already got the job then?” Alicia laughed.

“Well, no, but the spot’s open and I’ve just got to talk to Professor McGonagall, and you know she loves me,” Lee explained. The others laughed.

Something her dad had said a couple years ago came back to her, and she figured if anyone would know what to make of it it would be these guys, as they appeared to be Quidditch fanatics.

“Hey, so do you guys know who the Fitchburg Finches are?” Alice asked.

“Of course! They’re an American team that’s won the U.S. League like seven times!” Lee Jordan explained.

“Oh, cool, my uncle used to play for them,” Alice commented, taking a bite of mashed potatoes. She looked up to find the others all staring at her, their eyes wide, mouths gaping open.

“Your uncle played for the Fitchburg Finches?” Angelina’s voice was barely over a whisper, she was in such shock and awe.

“Yeah, he played… Beater?” Alice said hesitantly, unsure if that was the right word. “Whatever the position is with the club,” she clarified.

“Wait!” George held up a hand. “Your last name’s Connen right?” Alice nodded.

“You’re telling us that your uncle was ALEX CONNEN?!” Fred demanded, slamming his hands on the table and standing up.

“Yeah?” Alice quirked an eyebrow.

“He was fantastic! An excellent Beater!” Fred exclaimed.

“He’s one of our heroes actually,” George added.

“My dad has a poster of him in his office, he used to say that if only England had Connen, their Seekers would actually have time to catch the snitch without having to avoid bludgers all the time,” Angelina commented.

“Wow, okay, it’s kinda creepy that you guys all know so much about him,” Alice stated. “I didn’t even know what sport he played before this year when someone explained Quidditch to me, and I was like, ‘Oh, that’s what my dad was saying every time he talked about his brother’s games!’”

The others stared at her, again in shock.

“What?!” Lee erupted. “You’re telling me that your uncle was THE Alex Connen, and you didn’t even know what he played!?”

“I had always assumed he played baseball since he had a bat,” Alice shrugged.

Lee Jordan collapsed, his head falling onto the table. Fred and George simultaneously face-palmed as Alicia and Angelina gasped and turned away, horrified expressions on their faces.

“I was raised like a Muggle, guys, come on!” Alice said defensively.

“That’s no excuse!” Fred waved a finger at her. Alice rolled her eyes.

“He was on the American National Quidditch team! He played in the World Cup! After that he retired! You could’ve watched him in the World Cup!” Lee was bemoaning. 

The group proceeded then to recount all of her uncle’s greatest Quidditch moments, apparently there were a lot, which made sense since her dad was always heading off to watch his games back then. She filled them in on the more normal side of THE Alex Connen, whom she had known as Uncle Ally, x’s being difficult for two year-olds to say and the name kinda stuck after that. She told them all about how her mom and dad had played too, her dad was also a Beater, and from the way her dad used to tell it, he and Alex together were unstoppable! 

They had heard of her father too. He hadn’t gone pro, but he did have an illustrious career when he was in school. Apparently, his tall-tales weren’t that tall as they confirmed that the years in which he and Alex were both on the team, other teams were fearful to play them as their hits always seemed to count. The two were said to be able to read each other’s minds and set themselves up like barriers in pinball for the bludgers to guide it towards their target. Lee Jordan rattled off their stats, he had them memorized, and apparently they were proficient at keeping the Quaffle from ever reaching their Keeper. 

The food had long since vanished and a Gryffindor boy and girl stood up, as their counterparts in the other houses did the same, and called out for first-years. Alice said goodbye to the second-years and joined the flock trailing after the Gryffindor Head Boy and Girl. All the first-years left the Great Hall first, but the other houses continued down different corridors until the Gryffindors were on their own. The Head Boy and Girl led them up some flights of stairs, as some other staircases shifted position, and down another corridor before stopping before a painting of a fat lady in a pink dress. The subjects of all the paintings in Hogwarts, as Alice had already come to realize was the norm in wizarding pictures, seemed to be alive. The lady in the picture was singing, horribly off-tune, before the Head Boy and Girl interrupted her. She glared at them, perturbed at being disturbed.

“Password?” she asked petulantly.

“Hogwash,” the Head Boy told the fat lady.

The portrait swung open, revealing a hole in the wall. The Head Girl explained to the first-years that they could only get into the Common Room by giving the password to the Fat Lady. Alice blessed her spectacular memory and immediately filed ‘Hogwash’ away into a mental cabinet. The first-years clambered through the portrait hole, emerging in a cozy, high-ceilinged room where everything was red and gold and dark wood. Alice suspected the colors would get old after a while. Maybe some bright green, or light blue to brighten it up a bit. A fire crackled in the fireplace and there were tons of comfy looking seats everywhere. A chessboard was over to the side, what looked to be a study corner was off near a window, and couches and tables and chairs were spread throughout the rest of the room. There were also a ton of pillows—Alice foresaw a lot of pillow wars (fight was too tame a descriptor) in the future.

“Girls dormitories are up the right stairs, boys the left!” The Head Girl told them all.

Alice followed the other girls up to their dormitory to get unpacked. Alice wondered what she would be unpacking before she got into the room to find her suitcase and Tilly at the foot of a bed. After first greeting the owl, Alice got to unpacking, stuffing her clothes into the wardrobe without much order. She knew that when finals came around, this wardrobe would be organized by color and sleeve-length to procrastinate actually studying.

The girls briefly introduced themselves but noise started drifting up from the common room, so the girls all went downstairs to join the other students. Alice found the Weasleys, Lee Jordan, Angelina, and Alicia easily. They immediately caught her up on the subject: the caretaker Filch and how to outsmart him. Alice briefly wondered if she should take notes, as this was a subject she would need.

The Common Room was busy for a few more hours before everyone started to drift up to bed. Alice and the second-years were some of the last ones downstairs before their yawns began interrupting the punch-lines of their jokes. Everyone bid each other goodnight and Alice followed the other girls upstairs before heading to their separate dormitories. 

Alice entered the first-year girls’ dormitory to find everyone fast asleep. Alice changed in the dark, knocking into everything within two feet of her, and making enough noise to wake the dead but not apparently the four other first-year girls. She opened the window by her bed, set Tilly’s cage on the sill and opened his cage before climbing into bed.

She felt so awake, that she just knew she wouldn’t be able to get sleep. But as soon as her head hit the pillow, her eyelids dragged down, and she fell into deep sleep, simply proving that she was never meant for Ravenclaw. That night she had a dream that she and Jason were cheering on her father and her uncle at the Quidditch World Cup as they knocked vicious bludgers at their old, obnoxious Italian neighbors making up the other team.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the sorting hat's song was the hardest thing I have ever had to write-- I hate writing poetry/lyrics-- but I think it turned out all right.


	6. I Kind of Get Dragged into a Friendship with a Morning Person... Ugh

Other voices woke her up. They weren't the deep voice of her brother and the kindly voice of Mrs. Wallace or even the bark of Mr. Wallace and the squeakier version Preston employed. They were high-pitched and shrill voices. The voices of little girls. 

Alice groaned and her arms convulsed around her pillow as a final goodbye to her beloved sleep. Her head shot up and she glanced over, bleary-eyed, at her new nemeses who were apparently all morning people.

"Oh, you're up!" one of the girls smiled. She hopped onto the foot of Alice's bed and sat cross-legged, staring and smiling at Alice expectantly. Alice cast her a confused expression.

"I never got to introduce myself at the Banquet last night. I'm Emily!" she smiled cheerily. Emily had big, bright, blue eyes and curly, strawberry-blonde hair. She wore a pink, flowery nightgown and pink slippers. Alice felt nauseous.

"I'm Alice," she grumbled and sat up in bed.

"I noticed you were talking with a boy who got put into Ravenclaw. Are you two related?" she asked, still with that obnoxious smile.

"Yeah, he's my twin." Alice grumbled again, rubbing her eyes. This was going to be a long year.

"I thought so!" Emily exclaimed triumphantly. "You two look so much alike! Are you identical?"

"We can't be identical you mor—" Alice stopped herself before she said something she would regret. Well, she wouldn't regret saying it, but she would regret hurting this girl's feelings, she was so naive, like a little puppy. "Man," Alice thought, "this self-control thing is tough!"

"No, we're fraternal." Alice replied, forcing her voice to remain calm.

"Oh," Emily said, not sounding the least disappointed. "It must be wonderful having a twin! What's it like?" She asked eagerly, leaning forward. Alice drew back a little.

"It's... okay, I guess. I mean, it's not so great when he shows me up in everything he does. He's a genius," Alice remarked.

"Oh," Emily nodded in understanding.

"And it gets annoying when people see you as part of a pair, not individual people," Alice said, more to herself than to the eleven-year-old girl sitting on her bed. Emily, realizing that this may not be Alice's ideal topic to discuss, decided to change the subject.

"So, are you hungry for breakfast yet? We better get dressed and get down there before all the good food gets eaten."

Emily smiled exuberantly and slipped off Alice's bed. Alice hadn't really been wanting to spend her breakfast with this cheery child but she didn't have anyone else to eat with so she got out of bed and began dressing.

Emily talked incessantly all the way down to the Great Hall, and didn't let the delicious breakfast staunch the flow of conversation. Alice couldn't figure out how Emily's food was disappearing because she couldn't remember ever hearing a moment of silence for the girl to chew. About halfway through breakfast another girl came and sat down on Alice's other side. She was a first year, like Alice, and Alice remembered seeing her during the sorting, but she couldn't recall the girl's name. The girl didn't talk to anyone and ate her breakfast quietly and then glanced around as if lost when she was done. 

Emily scampered off to the bathroom and Alice was left in silence, not counting the cacophony of kids around her. Alice felt a little awkward and hoped Emily would get back quickly so that Alice wouldn't have to be "friendly" and talk to this girl, but her wish didn't seem to be coming true. Finally, after several minutes of uncomfortable silence, Alice turned and introduced herself.

"Hey, I'm Alice," She said, somewhat awkwardly.

"I'm Liz," the girl replied. Another moment of awkward silence passed between them.

"So, were you Muggle-born or did you know you were a witch?" Alice asked.

"I knew, both my parents were wizards so I grew up around magic. What about you?" Liz asked.

"Mine's a bit more complicated. I was raised as a Muggle but all my family was magical," Alice replied. Liz gave her an inquisitive look. "My mom disappeared when I was really young, and my dad kind of quit on magic, I guess. He wanted to give me and my brother a normal life, but he died when I was nine so we lived with our aunt who kept us in the dark. Then we got put into this exchange program that placed us with a foster family in England where we were still completely confused until our letter came." Alice explained.

"That's... kind of strange." Liz commented, smiling.

"Yeah," Alice sighed. Luckily, Emily returned before any more awkward silence could occur. Liz had finished her breakfast by now so she quietly got up and left. Alice quickly wondered why she had wanted Emily back, with her incessant talking, but was glad to not have to initiate the conversation.

“So, we have Herbology in a few hours! I hear it’s really fascinating, although,” Emily paused and laughed, “Everyone says it’s so easy that it gets boring after a while!” Alice nodded, pretending she knew what was going on when really she had no clue they even had classes today. Weren’t they supposed to be given a schedule or something?

Her thought was answered as Professor McGonagall placed a sheet of paper in front of her, going down the table handing out schedules according to class. Alice peered at her schedule and found that Emily was in fact correct and that they had Herbology at nine-thirty. 

“Good Lord! How early is it if we still have a few hours?” Alice thought, stricken. She hastily looked to her watch but found that it had stopped working, judging by the time stuck on it, around the time the train had pulled into the Hogsmeade station.

“What time is it?” Alice demanded of Emily, leaning forward over the table.

Emily glanced over above the door to the Great Hall. Alice followed her gaze to see a big clock hanging on the wall.

“Seven-fifteen!” Emily replied with a smile.

Alice gasped and remained breathless for a few moments. Were they trying to kill her, waking her up so early? Good Lord, the sun probably wasn’t even up yet (not that Alice knew, for she was never up in time to see the sunrise, she assumed that the sun had a reasonable schedule and thus didn’t rise until like, nine… eight-thirty at the earliest)! Emily looked at her with concern and reached out across the table for Alice’s arm that was resting beside her plate.

“Oh, goodness! Alice, are you okay?” she asked, her brows drawn in worry.

Alice managed to take a deep breath and blew it out slowly. She raised a hand to show that she was fine and Emily relaxed back onto the bench.

“I’m good, I’m good,” Alice repeated as if to convince herself.

Suddenly, she quickly glanced around the Great Hall, peering over to the Ravenclaw table searching for her brother. She couldn’t find the back of his head, which was distinct to her with its brown wavy hair, which he always fussed about because it curled at the ends, but everyone always said it was cute and that Alice should cut her hair short to get it to curl (Alice was having none of that). Even her brother wasn’t up yet! 

Alice felt convinced that this school would be the death of her: by exhaustion! If she wanted to get her minimum eight hours of sleep she’d have to go to bed at like ten! She doubted that would ever happen, especially if she repeated the last two nights and stayed up late with Fred, George, Alicia, Angelina, and Lee.

Alice turned back to finish her breakfast, her mood dampened, but upon trying the custard they brightened back up a bit. Emily startled rambling on about something or other and Alice listened vaguely while finishing breakfast.

“Hey! Do you wanna explore around the castle before classes start? To figure out where everything is,” Emily offered upon the completion of their breakfast. 

Alice’s face brightened mischievously. The two girls rose from their seats at the long table and exited the Great Hall, finally noticing the four giant hourglasses with gemstones matching the colors of the four houses. It was explained to them, by a third-year Emily stopped, that the hourglasses kept track of the house points. Alice was a bit disappointed to notice that Gryffindor had the least amount of gemstones in the bottom part.

“Exploration” to Alice meant finding every secret passageway and hiding place that could provide cover when playing pranks. This clearly was not Emily’s definition of the word as they located all of the rooms their classes would be in and figured out the best paths to take based on their schedule. 

This took some time as the girls came to learn that there were one hundred and forty-two staircases in Hogwarts, all of various design and length, and that they tended to move around. The entire castle was just as tricky with doors that weren’t really doors, or only opened if you asked nicely (Alice had difficulty with this door, almost getting into an argument with a door handle had Emily not stepped in); and some staircases with trick steps that looked like they were there, but it was actually just air, and you had to remember to jump it (easier said than done going up); and the subjects of portraits couldn’t even be used as markers because they moved around too, visiting other paintings so that nothing was ever where you thought it should be!

 By the time they finished this, they only had twenty minutes to get outside and to the greenhouse where their Herbology class was. Emily and Alice found their way outside, but they were on the opposite end of the castle and so they crossed the lawns, making their way over to the greenhouses. They noticed a hut further down the grounds near a forest. Alice assumed the hut was that of the groundskeeper, Hagrid, but the forest was a mystery to her.

“Hey, what’s that forest over there? Do we have anything in there?” she asked Emily.

Emily looked over to where Alice was referring and her eyes momentarily widened in surprise and a bit of fear.

“That’s the Forbidden Forest!” she said in a hushed tone.

“I wonder why it’s called that,” Alice muttered sarcastically.

“Don’t you remember Dumbledore’s speech about it?” Emily asked.

“What?” Alice was genuinely confused. She had no idea what Emily was talking about.

“Dumbledore gave a big speech about what places were out of bounds and other rules,” Emily explained, honestly surprised that Alice didn’t remember that.

Alice shrugged and assumed a thoughtful expression. She had absolutely no memory of this speech on rules and boundaries, not that that was atypical.

“I must’ve blocked it out,” she stated simply. Emily gasped at her. “Yeah, so you wanna check it out later?” Alice asked Emily.

Emily’s eyebrows shot to her hairline, her jaw slackening as she stared at Alice, eyes wide.

“Did you not hear what I said?” Emily asked.

“About what?” Alice responded absentmindedly.

“About it being forbidden!” Emily exclaimed. They stared at each other for a moment in silence.

“Yeah, so you wanna go check it out later?” Alice repeated.

Emily stared at her in shock but eventually laughed it off as they neared the greenhouses. They joined the steady stream of their fellow Gryffindor first-years towards Greenhouse 1 where they were ushered in by a portly woman with flyaway gray hair. Alice assumed this would be their Herbology professor as she was covered in dirt, with twigs and leaves in her hair, a hat on her head, earthy fingernails, and an apron over her clothes that didn’t seem to be working very well. When she introduced herself as Professor Sprout, Alice really shouldn’t have been surprised.

“Good morning! Welcome to Herbology! We will be having all classes this year here, in Greenhouse 1. A lot of your work in here will be hands on! Although you won’t be dealing with very dangerous plants this year—” Alice sighed and looked down at her feet as she kicked slightly at a patch of grass. “There will be lectures on them, of which you may have assignments for homework or essays.” Alice’s eyes widened, her brows furrowing in disappointment. “Now let’s get started!”

Professor Sprout seemed nice enough in her introduction, but as their work in pruning bushes that Alice had already forgotten the name of, Sprout revealed her true nurturing nature. A Hufflepuff boy next to Alice hacked off a good chunk of the bush he was tending, and held it in his hand, glancing between it and Professor Sprout in horror. But rather than berate the boy for hacking mindlessly at the delicate plant and wasting all the flowers on that branch which would die before fully maturing and being able to be used in potions, Sprout kindly reassured him. She explained to the class the important uses of the flowers of the bush, but assured the boy that they were not particularly rare plants and that his butchering one bush would not be detrimental to the school’s supply of the flowers. She did encourage him to be a bit more cautious with his clipping, less was more. Alice turned back to Emily.

“Wow, she’s really sweet, although, I hope that wasn’t just her showing favoritism,” Emily remarked to Alice.

“What do you mean?” Alice asked, not taking her eyes from her work.

“Sprout’s the Head of Hufflepuff House. So either she shows favoritism to those in her own house, or,” Emily paused and then laughed slightly. “I don’t want to see her reaction to anyone from another house!”

Alice grinned, but for the rest of the class she remained focused on her work to prevent any mistakes for fear that Emily’s jest would turn out true. Alice was not going to be the one berated for clipping off an inch too much of some stupid bush. Alice would later learn that Professor Sprout was indeed that kind and encouraging to everyone, but for now Alice was certain not to get on any teacher’s bad side. At least not yet.

After Herbology, the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs parted ways, the Hufflepuffs going who knew where while the Gryffindors made their way to what was to be the dullest class Alice had ever suffered in her life: History of Magic. One would think that learning about such interesting figures as Emric the Evil and Uric the Oddball, the latter having at one point worn a jellyfish on his head, would be mildly interesting, at least more so than learning about Muggle history. Add to that the fact that the class was taught by a ghost! How cool was that? 

Apparently not cool at all. Alice realized that she really shouldn’t have, but she had thought that her professor would have been a bit more… lively. Professor Binns simply droned on the entire class period, sounding just as bored about the subject as the students all were.

After History of Magic was Alice’s favorite subject: Lunch.

“Ugh! Finally! I swear my stomach was making whale calls in there!” Alice sighed as they sat down for lunch. She began piling food onto her plate as other students filed in.

“I know! And if I’d take a guess as to how he got into his current state, I’d say Binns bored himself to death!” Emily commented.

Alice looked up at her in surprise. That was the first time Emily had made a joke that was funny and insulting of another person. Emily took note of her new friend’s silence, but more so the fact that Alice wasn’t touching her food, her hand holding her fork, which had held macaroni and cheese on it a moment ago, suspended in the air between the plate and her mouth, staring at Emily.

“What?” Emily asked, beginning to get self-conscious.

“Nothing, that was just… funny,” Alice shrugged and went back to eating.

Maybe this Emily girl wasn’t so bad after all.

* * *

After lunch the Gryffindors set off to Charms. As Alice found a seat, she noticed Professor Flitwick at the front of the class. He saw her and waved. Alice returned it with a slight smile. Alice had been a bit rude to him when he had come to deliver the twins’ letters and explain to them their magical abilities, and she supposed she should try and make up for that. He was a kind man… or dwarf… she wasn’t sure if he was just short or had some kind of magical creature heritage so she decided not to label him.

Emily was the first to notice that this class wasn’t just Gryffindors, and she nudged Alice as a Slytherin girl passed by their table. Alice had been told by several older Gryffindors, most loudly by the Weasley twins and Lee Jordan, that the Slytherins were their enemies. They used countless tales of fights and fouls in Quidditch games, as well as the general rivalry for the House Cup, which for no explainable reason wasn’t as heated with the Ravenclaws or Hufflepuffs. Alice wanted to decide for herself if the Slytherins were terrible or not.

Not two minutes into class, Alice had made up her mind.

When Professor Flitwick waddled up to his platform, Alice overheard a Slytherin girl whisper to the boy seated next to her, “Pathetic. I know why he’s teaching Charms, ‘cause he can’t reach anything without a spell,” the Slytherins tried to stifle their laughs. 

Alice’s eyes narrowed to slits, her eyebrows drawn down into a ‘V’ as she tore a piece off her parchment. She balled it up and chucked it at the back of the Slytherin girl’s head. She was satisfied when it struck its mark and bounced off. The Slytherin girl startled and glared back at Alice. Emily, who had watched the entire thing in stunned silence, quickly looked away innocently. Alice, on the other hand, met the Slytherin girl’s and boy’s glares head on, stuffing so much venom in her own glare at them that they turned away first. Alice smirked over at Emily. Gryffindor: 1, Slytherin jerks: 0.

Professor Flitwick proved himself a great teacher. He was clever, and interesting, and funny; not that that kept the Slytherins from finding faults. This caused Alice to police the class, hurling paper balls at anyone that said even the slightest insulting thing about Flitwick. Professor Flitwick merely ignored the paper balls that were flying across the room, knowing full well the person and reasoning behind them.

Alice felt very proud of herself for sticking up for Professor Flitwick. She knew she made a lot of enemies among the Slytherins that day. This fact made her feel even prouder.


	7. So the DADA professor is Most Likely Crazy... but like a Good Crazy

Alice had had a sit down with Emily about the ridiculous hour at which Emily had woken her up that morning. Emily promised not to wake Alice that early the next morning, but she grew a little anxious as Alice seemed ready to sleep through breakfast. Finally Alice was woken, not be Emily, but by Tilly who entered in through the window and gave a loud hoot to Alice around eight in the morning. Alice swore into the pillow.

“Alice?” Emily called out hushed, having heard a mumble from Alice’s bed.

“I’m awake!” Alice grumbled, not moving in the bed. After a few moments of arguing with herself to see if she could squeeze out a few more hours of sleep in just thirty minutes, Alice let out a groan and sat up in bed, swinging her legs over the edge. The stone floor was cold on her bare feet, but she propelled herself up off the bed before any thoughts of returning to it could surface.

Alice was ready quickly, pulling her robes on over her head and running her fingers through her hair to try to tame it a bit. Emily set aside the book she had been reading and joined her friend to head down to the Great Hall. Alice proceeded down the marble steps like a zombie, the majority of her responses were grunts and moans, and she shuffled her feet and ran into a few things whilst rubbing her eyes of the remaining sleep.

The girls sat down next to Katie Bell and her friend Leanne, and Emily chattered away happily as Alice shoveled food into her mouth. Alice finished quickly and glanced at the clock. They still had twenty minutes until Herbology. The fact that they had Herbology three times a week was very irksome to Alice and she determined to speak to someone about this.

“Emily, what classes do we have today?” Alice snapped her fingers at Emily to get her attention.

Emily stopped mid-sentence and fished her schedule out of her robes. She hummed merrily to herself as she unfolded the parchment and perused it, searching for Tuesday’s schedule.

“We have Herbology, then Transfiguration right after that,” Emily began.

“That’s with McGonagall, it’s supposed to be really hard, but maybe she favors her house,” Katie Bell interjected hopefully.

The girls glanced up at the staff table, where Professor McGonagall had on an annoyed expression as a woman with thick, round glasses that made her eyes bug out and dressed in draping shawls prattled on to her.

“I wouldn’t bet on that,” Alice stated.

“Then we have lunch, and after that Defense against the Dark Arts,” Emily finished their schedule for the day. Alice’s eyes glinted excitedly at that.

“Defense against the Dark Arts?” she asked, Emily nodded. “Sounds promising. Who’s the professor?”

“Professor Triggs, he’s kind of a nutter,” Fred Weasley answered as the twins approached Alice.

“Yeah, goes on ‘bout all these conspiracies! But you’ll see for yourself,” George added as the twins synchronously slid onto the bench on either side of Alice.

“Hi, Fred Weasley! The ugly one’s George,” Fred introduced himself to the other girls. George reached around Alice to slap Fred upside the head. “Ow!” 

Fred glared back at George and the two almost got into a tussle around Alice but she grabbed an arm of each twin and dragged them back down onto the bench as they had started to stand. This brought them back to what they had come over for in the first place.

“By the way, Quidditch try-outs are this afternoon, and though we know you can’t try-out ‘cause you’re a first-year,” Fred began.

“We’d like you to come and cheer us on! Angelina and Alicia are trying out too, and Lee will be there too, probably just to try his hand at commentating though,” George finished.

“Sure! Maybe Lee can give me a full run-through of the rules and everything there to get me ready for when the season starts,” Alice agreed. The twins winced at the latter.

“If you want, but we’d be terrible friends if we didn’t warn you,” George hedged.

“Lee will rant ‘till he’s blue in the face, I’d advise not sitting next to him,” Fred blurted.

“Well, see ya there, Connen!” George said, clapping Alice on the back as the twins got up from the table to head to their first class. 

Alice and her fellow first-years had to head out to Herbology around this time too. This class was just as boring as the last one with Professor Sprout lecturing about dangerous plants, but until Alice saw some dangerous plants, she wasn’t interested. Afterwards the Gryffindors parted from the Hufflepuffs and headed to Transfiguration.

Unfortunately, Alice and Emily got a little lost at a door they thought was a door but was really just the wall pretending. They were there for three minutes trying to pry the door open when an upper classman kindly told them it wasn’t a real door and pointed them in the right direction. Despite the aid of the student, Alice and Emily arrived to class two minutes late.

They tried to sneak in and grab a seat in the back without anyone noticing, but upon opening the door, it let out such a god-awful screech that they cringed. As the door squeaked open they revealed themselves to the entire class that was staring back at them. Professor McGonagall, at the front of the class, looked stern. Alice and Emily made themselves smaller, preparing for the worst.

“Glad to see you found the place, come take a seat, there are some open ones up front,” Professor McGonagall said calmly.

Alice and Emily glanced at each other in shock. McGongall appeared a stern woman, not lenient in anything let alone tardiness, yet she was being kind and understanding. Emily shrugged and the girls walked up to the empty table McGonagall indicated.

As it turned out, they weren’t the only ones that had gotten lost and a few more students trickled in several minutes after them. Once everyone was present, McGonagall addressed the class.

“I’m lenient on the first day as the castle can be confusing, and finding one’s way can prove difficult for first-years. However, this leniency will not be extended beyond today as I expect upon finding this classroom, you will be able to do so again, on time,” McGonagall raised her eyebrows and swept the room with her stern gaze.

Alice counted herself lucky.

“Now, with that being said, Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts. Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned.”

The class collectively gulped.

Unlike other classes, where the professors just spent the first day introducing the students to the subject with simple concepts or light work, McGonagall started right off the bat. They were each given a match and instructed to turn it into a needle.

McGonagall went around the class to give instruction and point students in the right direction. Emily was staring intently at her match, her eyebrows drawn in concentration, her wand pointed at the match on the table, muttering the words McGonagall had taught them over and over again. Alice had her head in her hands, staring willfully at the match as if her thinking it would turn the match into a needle. McGonagall came to stand by their table.

“Miss Connen, you cannot expect to turn the match into a needle without using your wand and repeating the incantation,” McGonagall stated. Alice glanced up, not taking her head from her hands.

“Well, I tried that and nothing was happening,” Alice replied.

“So you gave up?” McGonagall asked, an eyebrow shooting to her hairline.

“No,” Alice retorted, straightening up and dropping her hands to the table. “I just decided to take a different approach.”

“Your efforts are commendable, Miss Connen, but nonverbal magic is far more complicated than this spell. I would recommend you use your wand and speak the incantation,” McGonagall tried to keep her lip from twitching.

By the end of the class no one had many any change to their match. McGonagall tried to reassure them, telling them no one in any of her other classes had made a change either, except for one student.

“Let me guess,” Alice muttered.

“It was actually, your brother Miss Connen, young Mr. Jason. He managed to make his match pointy and partly silver,” McGonagall explained. Alice threw up her hands and dropped her head onto the table.

Luckily lunch was after that. Emily managed to brighten Alice’s spirits when she tried to toss a roll at her for a snide comment, but missed and hit a kid sitting at the table behind them. The girl’s jaws dropped and Alice desperately tried to smother her laughter as the student turned around looking for who had thrown the roll. Emily tried to duck under the table, her face as red as the strawberries in the dish in front of her.

After lunch, the girls trailed after the other Gryffindors heading for Defense Against the Dark Arts. They made sure to keep the other first-years in sight so as to avoid a repeat of getting lost and being late for class. They doubted their luck would hold out for two teachers to be merciful. This classroom wasn’t as difficult to find, being located on the second floor (which for some reason everyone kept calling the first floor).

Alice excitedly dragged Emily to the front of the class where she pulled her to a table in the second row, after having decided that the front row could prove dangerous, thus the second row was close enough that she wouldn’t miss anything interesting but further back so as not to be on the front lines in case anything went wrong. Emily didn’t seem as excited about the prospect of combative spells and dangerous creatures and much would’ve preferred sitting further towards the back, but Alice didn’t give her any choice in the matter. They had arrived a few minutes early, so Alice was forced to wait a few more moments as more students filtered in. 

It was time for class to start, but there was no sign of the teacher. Alice began to grow nervous, hoping this of all classes wouldn’t be cancelled. She bit at her lip and kept glancing over at Emily who just shrugged, she didn’t know where the professor was any more than Alice did.

“Ugh! Where’s the Professor? When the professor’s late you know something’s off!” a voice called out from amidst the students. They all turned to look to notice a man in the fourth row leaning back in his chair, his feet propped up on the table. Upon receiving so many stares, the man held his hands up. “Why’re you all looking at me?” he asked. Students glanced at each other, raising eyebrows and giving each other faces. So, the rumors were true, this guy was nutters. Suddenly the man’s chair dropped back onto four legs. “Oh right! Of course! So sorry!” he grinned, leaping to his feet, and then upon the table, where he addressed the class.

“Hello! I’m Alvar Triggs and I’ll be teaching you this year how to defend yourselves against dark magics!” he declared, his voice carrying clearly throughout the room. 

Alice had to twist in her seat to see the professor. He stood atop the table as if on a stage, with a presence that filled the whole room. He had reddish-brown, shoulder-length hair tied back in a ponytail, with his wand tucked behind an ear. He had a long, but not unpleasant face with bright gray eyes, containing an almost mad gleam in them. He bore a faint scar under his left eye, a small one on his chin, and an old burn on his right forearm. He wore a white shirt, the sleeves rolled up past his elbows, with a purple striped waistcoat and a long, worn brown jacket over it. Black pants and boots finished off his outfit. He didn’t really seem to fit the ‘magic professor’ image that his coworkers kept up. He was also full of energy.

“Now! Some of you may have heard rumors,” Triggs hopped down from the table and seemed to bounce up to the front of the room. “That I am quite mad!” He scanned the room, seeing some eyes avoid his own, while others stared dumbly. “And I probably will do nothing to disabuse anyone of these notions, quite the opposite I expect! But that doesn’t mean I don’t know what I’m talking about! I, myself, have fought those subject to the Dark Arts on many occasions, and I can tell you that it’s terrifying!”

Alice wasn’t sure if Triggs was trying to scare them or encourage them as he had a huge grin on his face despite his words. Alice was already starting to like this teacher.

“Those wielding dark magic are often very talented, very strong, and very resilient. They also have little to no compunction about the spells they use, giving them a much larger arsenal for combative magic. However, with access to such awe-inspiring magic, they underestimate all other forms of magic. And this can often prove a great weakness! I don’t know how many times I’ve defeated a powerful dark witch or wizard with a relatively simple spell that they just weren’t prepared for! That’s why I will try to teach you all this semester how to think outside the box! Never underestimate ‘simple’ magic, as it may well save your life!” 

Triggs never once stopped moving as he gave his speech, pacing at the front of the room, then leaping off to a side of the room and weaving between the tables. He was very animated and Alice toyed with the idea of what happened if he stayed still for just a moment. She wondered if he’d simply explode from contained energy or just power down having lost his momentum.

“There is a well-known example of so-called ‘simple’ magic defending against the most powerful of dark wizards,” Triggs suddenly became very serious, as did the rest of the class. Alice figured everyone knew something she didn’t. “For those of you raised in the Muggle world, not too long ago there was a very powerful, very evil wizard. He was so feared that even now we do not speak his name! He is simply known as He Who Must Not Be Named, but his name, and this will likely be the only time I speak his name aloud, was Voldemort.” A gasp issued from the students from magical families. Alice pursed her lips, confused as to why everyone seemed so frightened, it was just a name.

“Now, the Dark Lord assembled a large gathering of loyal followers, called Death Eaters, and with his followers, wanted to enslave and eventually rid the world of those he deemed impure. This mainly consisted of Muggles and Muggle-born witches and wizards, but also included what he considered lesser races like house elves. Now, many a witch and wizard stood up against the Dark Lord and his Death Eaters, but the Dark Lord seemed to be growing in power and was nearly impossible to harm. All attempts to destroy him proved futile, that is until one Halloween night.

“Now, no one is entirely sure why he sought after a young boy named Harry Potter, some believe he heard a prophecy about this boy, telling how he was to be a powerful wizard rivaling the Dark Lord. Regardless of the true reason, the Dark Lord went after this young boy, seeking to eliminate this boy before he could ever become a threat. However, when the Dark Lord tried to kill the boy, he himself was destroyed. Every child raised in the magical world knows this story of the Boy Who Lived. But few know why he survived the killing curse which is impossible to survive. I have studied this subject in great detail and have found that the Dark Lord was defeated by himself,” Triggs paused here as whispers shot up amongst the students. He waited until they quieted to continue. 

“Now, Harry Potter’s mother died to protect her young son. This sacrifice, some believe, formed a magical barrier around her son, whom she died for, a love shield. This simple, but powerful magic formed from the sacrificial love of a mother, protected her son from any harm, so that when the Dark Lord cast a killing curse on the boy, it was rebounded by the love shield back onto him.” Triggs finished, bent over his desk, staring intently at his students. He quickly straightened up and floated back around to the front of his desk. 

The classroom was silent. Alice was in awe, having never heard this story before. It was sad certainly, but it seemed so incredible to her, a real story of good and evil! The rest of the class began to murmur to each other. They had heard the tale of the Boy Who Lived their entire lives, but no one had really heard any theories about _how_.

“Now, I for one am not so sure that the Dark Lord was once and for all destroyed that night. After all, I had seen many a witch or wizard hurl powerful spells at him which barely harmed him. There were even tales of him being killed before but he always returned. I think that he figured out some way to survive, and that he’s still out there, somewhere. Probably gathering his strength,” Triggs had a contemplative expression on his face and his voice faded a bit with the last line. At this some students scoffed, seeing this thought as some ridiculous conspiracy theory. Triggs resumed his energy though and continued. 

“But that’s not why I told this tale! I told this story for two reason. One: to make sure we are all on the same page as to why this subject is so important, as there are those out there who will seek power through the Dark Arts. And two: because it is an example of seemingly simple magic, a love shield, defeating the most powerful dark wizard we have seen in our day and age. The Dark Lord fell to this simple spell because he underestimated its power. He had supreme power of the Dark Arts, why would he ever give thought to the power of love?” Triggs studied the faces of his students, letting his last question sink in a bit. 

“This is the principal weakness of those who practice the Dark Arts. This year, some of you may consider what we do here to be simple and maybe even pointless. Don’t get me wrong, I will present to you some challenges, but never fall to the same weakness of the Dark Lord, never underestimate the power of simplicity, passion, and creativity.”

Triggs suddenly hurled something (it looked suspiciously like a softball), at the front row. A few kids ducked instinctively, others froze. But quick as a whip— he must have had it ready— Triggs had his wand out and waving.

“Arresto Momentum!” he shouted.

The softball instantly halted mere inches from a boy’s nose. He looked at it cross-eyed as it hovered there in front of him.

Triggs sauntered over and snatched the ball out of the air. The boy let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. A few kids muttered and glanced at each other in confusion and maybe a bit of anger— Alice didn’t see the big deal, Triggs had clearly known what he was doing and wasn’t going to let anyone get hurt. Triggs tossed the ball in the air, catching it, as he wandered back to his desk.

“You must always be prepared. Anything could happen at any moment and you must be ready to deal with any situation,” Triggs, still holding the ball, suddenly pointed at the kid next to the boy who’d nearly gotten nailed, it was Cormac. “How did you handle the situation?”

Cormac was a bit flustered. “I ducked!” he retorted.

“Understandable reaction,” Triggs nodded. “But how did that help your friend?” he quirked an eyebrow and looked to the boy who seemed to still be working to get his heart pumping at a normal rate. Cormac looked a bit ashamed and shrugged.

“I guess it didn’t. But I didn’t want to get hit!” he added defensively.

Triggs nodded but didn’t respond and began pacing in front of the room. He looked up at them after a moment and posed a question.

“What if this… hadn’t been a softball, and instead had been a curse?”

The class was silent. Triggs pointed at Katie.

“What would you have done if a curse was aimed right at your friend?” he asked, indicating Leanne beside Katie. Katie looked over at Leanne before looking back up to Triggs, a bit nervously.

“Stopped it?” she answered hesitantly.

“Why?”

“I wouldn’t want her to get hurt.”

Triggs grinned and clapped his hands, pointing at Katie triumphantly, though it made her a bit embarrassed.

“Yes! That is the reaction everyone should have. Preparation and preservation, not just of yourself, but of others too. Now, why did Acton not get clobbered by this softball?” Triggs asked, smirking and tossing the softball up in the air once more.

“You stopped it with magic,” a boy stated obviously.

“I did, Mister Hannigan, but what if I hadn’t? What then?”

The room was silent as everyone looked around hesitantly. A few were very confused and Cormac had regained enough confidence to voice their concerns.

“Well, none of us could’ve stopped it. We don’t know any spells yet,” he said a bit accusingly. Triggs only shrugged.

“You could’ve caught it,” he suggested. “That’s what a Slytherin student did just this morning.”

Everyone grumbled at that. Slytherin couldn’t upstage them. Gryffindor was supposed to be the house of loyalty and bravery.

“A Ravenclaw student batted it away with a book. It was a pretty good shot too, nearly took my head off,” he continued, chuckling. Alice had a sickening feeling that student was her brother. “Think creatively. In some instances let your instincts take over, they’re often right.”

“But if it had been a curse, none of that would have helped,” another boy pointed out.

“A Hufflepuff student pushed the target out of the way… and off the stool, but the thought was there,” Triggs added. “The solution doesn’t always have to be magical. Muggles have done a pretty good job of figuring out ways to defend themselves. But you have a point, magic is a useful tool and often the best for the job when it comes to defending against magical attack. And that’s what I’m here to teach you! Now if you’ll all turn to page ten in your books— we’re starting with the basics today.”

Triggs taught a brief bit of theory before letting everyone jump into trying out the shield charm, claiming they would get to the fun jinxes after they knew how to protect themselves from them. It didn’t seem long before the bell rang. Triggs looked up.

“That’s all the time we have for today, I’ll see you all next week.”

Alice felt as if she was jolted from a dream as the room filled with the sounds of students gathering up their things and heading out. Alice and Emily got caught up in the tide exiting the classroom. She could overhear the other students talking about the class.

“That guy’s a nutter! Does he really believe that crazy theory of the Dark Lord still being alive?” a boy scoffed.

“I for one, hope you’re right Thomas, and not him,” Leanne replied.

The boy, whose name was apparently Thomas, muttered something, but didn’t seem as confident as his words had presented him. 

* * *

 

Alice had managed to convince Emily to come down to watch Quidditch try-outs with her. Katie Bell tagged along too as she planned on trying out next year and wanted to see how it went. The three girls climbed the ridiculous amount of stairs up the stands to the seats and found Lee Jordan in the front row. Ignoring the Weasley twins’ advice, Alice sat down next to Lee as Emily sat next to her, Katie next to Emily.

Lee pointed out to their friends on the pitch below, though the Weasley twins weren’t exactly hard to notice with their flaming red hair standing out against the green of the Quidditch pitch. There was a pretty large group of students trying out this year as there were many open spots this year. Both Beater positions were open, which the twins were hoping to fill.

“That’s the captain, Oliver Wood, he’s a fourth year and plays Keeper, and a bloody good one at that, he’s just gonna get better though,” Lee explained, pointing out the brown-haired youth giving a speech to the kids on the pitch. He then pointed out the stocky, not-Fred-or-George red-head standing behind Oliver. “That’s Charlie Weasley, Fred and George’s older brother, he was captain last year, and I don’t know why he turned it over to Wood this year. He plays Seeker, and he’s brilliant! This is his last year, but when he graduates he could play for England!”

Angelina happened to look up towards Lee and Alice and noticed them. Lee and Alice frantically waved. Angelina waved back and nudged the others who turned and returned the waves, the twins rather exaggeratedly. Alice burst into laughter as Oliver turned to look directly at the twins while they were in the middle of leaping up and down and waving both hands over their heads. He called something to them, causing them to stop mid-jump and quickly assume innocent poses and expressions. Lee and Alice were doubled over as the twins were chewed out by the young captain.

Luckily, the twins were excellent Beaters and proved it during their try-outs, so Wood couldn’t really hold their previous lack of attention against them. Lee explained in detail every action during the try-out games, explaining to Alice all the rules and where people went wrong or exhibited unique skill. Alice started to notice that Lee held a torch for Angelina as he could do nothing but praise every move she made. 

When it ended, the group made their way down to reunite with their friends outside the pitch. The twins had made it as the team’s Beaters, Angelina got a Chaser spot, and Alicia was on the reserve team. Katie asked Angelina and Alicia all about tips and techniques and the three were soon deep in conversation.

“This is an excellent team! I think this may be our year! We may actually win the Quidditch Cup this year!” Lee babbled excitedly.

The group headed to the trophy room where the second-years showed off past trophies. Alice noticed that there weren’t many recent Gryffindor Quidditch Cups. The second-years explained to her that the last Gryffindor championship was several years ago, in Charlie’s early years of playing for the team. He was supposedly good enough to play for England after he graduated this year, but he was already talking about going off to work with dragons. Alice silently agreed with Charlie, dragons seemed much more exciting than playing a silly game. Not that she would admit it to this lot. They would probably string her up by her ears not letting her down until she declared Quidditch the best sport in the world, which anyone sane would gladly choose as a lifestyle.

Alice wandered over to an older trophy case which exhibited another Gryffindor win, this one from the seventies. Reading the list of names of those on the winning team, Alice did a double take. 

Chasers: James Potter, Willamena Ackers, Ralph Curtis

Willamena Ackers.

That was her mother’s maiden name.

Emily came up behind Alice and immediately grew concerned. Alice stood, eyes wide, staring blankly at the trophy case, her breath stuck in her chest.

“Alice? You all right?” Emily asked gently. Alice took a deep breath and turned back to her friend. She gave her a shaky smile. Just then the others came up behind them.

“What’d you find Alice?” Fred asked, curiously inspecting the trophy case.

Alice pointed at the list of names, but she was staring at the picture where she easily identified her mother smiling next to a boy with messy black hair and glasses. As the subjects moved, her mother lifted a hand and ruffled the boy’s hair, making it stick up every which way, and laughed as he grinned trying to tame it.

“That’s my mom, Willamena Ackers, that was my mom’s maiden name,” Alice said a bit breathlessly.

“Woah! Your mom was on the 1973 team? Wicked!” Lee exclaimed.

“I didn’t even know she went here,” Alice grinned sardonically.

“Well, that explains why you’re here then,” Angelina said. Alice turned to her.

“What?”

“Hogwarts letters are sent out to a select number of young witches and wizards whose name appears, at the time of their birth, in a great book. It’s only for magical kids in the area though, so your mum must’ve been born here and gone here. That’s how your names got in the book, ‘cause your mum went here,” Angelina explained.

Alice had wondered why they were sent to a school in the UK when she had learned that there were plenty of magical schools in America. Her father had gone to school in America, but he had told her and Jason that their mother didn’t go to his school. Their families were old friends and they had practically grown up together even though Willamena, she went by Nax from her middle name, lived and went to school overseas. Apparently Hogwarts put a lot of stock in alumni if her and Jason’s names, though they were born in the U.S., appeared in this book because of their mother.

“Wow! Your mum was a Chaser on the winning 1973 team! Your dad was unstoppable in the states, and your uncle was THE Alex Connen! I can’t wait ‘til you learn to fly!” Lee Jordan rambled excitedly.

“Yeah! You’re probably a natural! It’s in your blood!” Alicia agreed.

“Hehe, yeah, probably,” Alice laughed awkwardly. Maybe now wasn’t the best time to tell them she was afraid of flying.


	8. Mutually Assured Destruction

“Ugh! This is ridiculous! It doesn’t work!” Alice fumed.

The conflagration on the table was quickly stifled as Jason dropped a heavy, leather-bound book on top of it, effectively smothering it. It was well past midnight, the twins having teamed up after Astronomy, initially working on their Transfiguration homework. Having finished that, Alice then turned to working on the problem from class: turning a matchstick into a needle. So far, all she had accomplished was exploding a handful of matchsticks.

“Yes, it does, you’re just not doing it right,” Jason stated, a hint of irritation in his voice.

“Well, I’m sorry Great and Powerful Jason who just knows everything! How the bloody hell is it supposed to be done?” Alice flared.

The few people nearby in the library started at the girl’s outburst. Jason simply stared at her with the same tired, annoyed expression he had been for the past hour.

“You get frustrated too easily, this stuff takes patience,” he explained.

Alice shot daggers at him. Jason rolled his eyes and pulled out a new matchstick from the box on the table. Lifting his wand, he pointed at the matchstick and repeated the words and movements Professor McGonagall had taught last class. After the third repetition, the matchstick in Jason’s hand went all shiny and the tip formed into a point. By the fifth and final repetition, the matchstick was now wholly a needle. Jason handed it to Alice to inspect and then pulled out another matchstick and placed it in front of her.

“Your turn. Focus, don’t get frustrated, and repeat the incantation as many times as necessary,” Jason instructed, though his tone was a bit tense, having repeated himself about thirty times at this point. Alice cast Jason a quick glare, having caught the patronizing tone. She set down the needle she’d been inspecting, picking up her own wand that lay on the table in front of her.

Alice closed her eyes, drew a deep breath, and straightened up a bit. Exhaling, she opened her eyes and focused her attention on the matchstick in front of her. She pronounced the incantation clearly, matching it with the proper actions.

The matchstick remained as it was. Except now Alice swore it was mocking her. Her eyes narrowed and she repeated the spell, a bit more forcefully.

Her voice got louder and angrier after every repetition, her movements more exaggerated and wild. Jason dropped his head in his hands with a groan. He heard a ‘woosh’ followed by Alice swearing as the matchstick again sparked and burst into flame. Alice lifted the heavy book and beat at the fire viciously until it went out.

Alice glanced over at Jason, whose face was hidden by his hands which were pressed against his forehead. Suddenly, Jason began gathering up his things and rose from his seat.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Alice demanded.

“To bed. You should too, McGonagall’s not expecting you to have learned it by tomorrow. Transfiguration is difficult,” Jason said wearily, slinging his bag over his shoulder.

“You get it just fine,” Alice muttered grumpily.

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean you can. We may be twins but that doesn’t mean that we can each do the same things.” 

“Exactly. You can do everything!” Alice grumbled.

“It also doesn’t mean I can teach you anything,” he said, ignoring her comment and looking at her sternly.

This was certainly true. Alice and Jason had never been very good at teaching things to each other. When they were in soccer, Alice tried to teach Jason how to score, but he just wasn’t coordinated with his feet, and she grew too easily frustrated with him. Similarly, in school, Jason had often tried to help his sister with concepts she had trouble understanding, but she grew frustrated, making Jason frustrated, to the point where they both just yelled at each other and stormed off to study separately. Neither was really sure why they thought magic would be any different.

“Thanks for nothing,” Alice grumbled.

“Anytime. I’ll see you tomorrow for Flying lessons,” Jason called over his shoulder as he left Alice at her table.

Alice groaned and dropped her head to the table. Flying lessons. She’d almost forgotten.

While Lee, Alicia, Angelina, Fred, and George expected her to be the next big Quidditch star, none of them knew that Alice was terrified of flying. Not of heights. She could climb a tree taller than a two-story house and not feel a slight qualm upon looking at the ground far below. She also loved roller coasters so it had nothing to do with zooming around above the ground. It was not being in contact with something firmly rooted to the ground that set Alice’s stomach flipping and heart pounding. A tree was rooted into the ground, a roller coaster car was on tracks that were firmly tied to the ground, an airplane, or even worse a broom, was not connected to the ground in any way. Airplanes were bad enough, but at least it had a floor and walls so that every now and then you could forget you were miles above ground surrounded by nothing by air. Not so with brooms, and Alice was dreading her first ride on one.

She lifted her head off the table and leaned back in her seat. Casting a glare at the matchstick box, she found that only one was left and plucked it out to set on the table before her. She then leaned forward to rest her arms on the table and stared intently at the matchstick.

“All right, listen here, matchstick,” Alice began, addressing the matchstick. “Your brethren have so far been uncooperative, and you can see how that worked out for them!” she threatened gesturing at the charred remains. “So, I’ll make you a proposition. You cooperate and turn into a needle—just a simple change, you may prefer it, it’s definitely a sleeker design and not quite so prone to destruction as is the point behind your current design—and I won’t explode you! Easy as that! I’ll also probably keep you forever, if that helps you decide,” Alice shrugged.

She knew she sounded crazy to anyone overhearing her, but the students that were still in the library after midnight after only the third day of classes had their own problems. Alice drew herself up and lifted her wand. Closing her eyes, she drew a deep breath. Banishing images of the matchstick bursting into flame, Alice instead visualized it turning sleek and silver and pointy. She opened her eyes and wiggled her shoulders to release the tension before focusing on the matchstick.

She repeated the incantation and did the wand movements McGonagall had instructed last class. After the first try proved no results, Alice pushed down the gnawing frustration and doubt, and decided to close her eyes. With her eyes clamped shut, she imagined the matchstick turning into a needle and repeated the incantation and movements. After three repetitions, Alice peeked out of one eye down at the matchstick. The other eye quickly followed as her eyebrows shot up.

The matchstick was now pointy.

It was still a matchstick, made of wood with the red tip, but the red tip was no longer circular, but pointy. Alice resisted the urge to stop there and claim success, and quickly closed her eyes to continue. With a growing confidence, Alice repeated the spell a few more times before peering back down at her work.

It worked! The matchstick was a needle!

Alice lifted the needle triumphantly in the air and let out a whoop of victory! She was quickly ambushed by angry shushing, reminding her she was in the library after hours. Upon that thought, Alice realized none of them should be in there at all, they were all technically breaking the rules. She hadn’t been ushered out yet, so she shrugged, assuming that upon seeing so many kids still in they had just left it open. At least that would be her defense if she was caught. But she didn’t plan on that happening.

Alice gathered up her things and headed out of the library to return to her dormitory. Upon exiting into the hall, Alice felt very aware of the fact that it was after hours and everyone was supposed to be in their common rooms already. The castle was eerily quiet and dark. Alice nearly walked right into a suit of armor because she couldn’t see it until the handle of an axe appeared right in front of her nose. They really should be taught a ‘light’ spell or something on the first day! She managed to maneuver around the suits of armor and kept a hand on the wall to keep her going in the right direction.

She found her way to the stairs and was almost home free without getting caught when a ghost, at least that’s what she assumed it was but he looked much more solid and not translucent, suddenly swooped down out of the ceiling to hover in front of her.

“Ah! An ickle firstie out of bed after hours! Must be my lucky night!” the little man bubbled. He had a mischievous grin on his face and was dressed quite strangely, almost like a clown, with a bell-covered hat and an orange bowtie. He sucked in a deep breath to call her out, but Alice interrupted.

“What are you?” she asked promptly before the ghost-thing could continue. 

He paused looking quite confused. She didn’t seem at all perturbed that she’d been caught. Alice noticed his look of bemusement and continued.

“I mean, you’re not translucent and white like the ghosts. You look solid but you’re clearly not as you just swooped through the ceiling. So what are you? Or sorry, maybe who are you would be more polite,” Alice added belatedly.

“I’m Peeves the Poltergeist!” he blurted, a bit insulted that she didn’t know him.

“Nice to meet you, Peeves. What exactly is a poltergeist? What do you do?” Alice prompted further.

“Well, it’s basically a spirit of chaos, but indestructible! I really just cause mayhem wherever I go,” Peeves shrugged.

“Awesome! I like to think I share that purpose, but I’m certain you can do so much more mischief than my own feeble attempts, I mean being an indestructible spirit would really come in handy!” Alice gushed. 

Peeves was flattered. Maybe he wouldn’t rat this first-year out. She may even prove herself to be of like mind as him, upon which he could take her under his wing much like he was doing with the Weasley twins. Those were two agents of chaos if ever he’d seen ‘em!

“Well, I don’t like to brag,” Peeves said, in mock humility. “But I do sort of run this school! And they can’t get rid of me as I come with the building!”

“You’ve got it made then!” Alice chuckled.

“Yes, it’s a rather nice set-up! That nasty old Filch sure does rail about it!” Peeves leaned back in mid-air, lounging as if on a chair, folding his hands behind his head.

“Who’s Filch?” Alice asked curiously.

“Filch the caretaker! He hates me as I work to make his life miserable; possessing suits of armor, dropping bombs of all sorts on students, messing up classrooms, the works!”

“Cool! I once rigged my brother’s bedroom door so that when he entered a bucket of strawberry jelly dumped down on him, but it got my dad instead! He was actually quite proud at my feat of engineering, as this was before I found out I was a witch. My brother was all puffed up, teasing me ‘bout how I’d missed him, but I had set up a back-up, so when he went into his bathroom a tub of chocolate syrup poured on his head!” Alice recounted. Peeves hollered with laughter. 

“And since I didn’t want to have all that chocolate be wasted, my dad and I made ourselves some sundaes and swiped the syrup off my brother!” Peeves was rolling with laughter.

“You know what?” Peeves hooted, wiping tears from his eyes. “You’re not bad! What’s your name kid?”

“Alice Connen,” Alice introduced herself. 

Peeves shook her hand. 

“Pleased to meet you Miss Connen! You seem a girl after my own heart! A little advice: Filch is a stickler so don’t get caught by him, but if you do, he’s easy to mess with! Sometimes, it’s fun to get caught just to string him around a bit!” Peeves shared.

“I will remember that, thanks,” Alice vowed.

“Don’t mention it! You know, you remind me of someone, a girl that was here a while back,” Peeves trailed off, trying to remember who Alice reminded him of.

By the time Alice said goodbye to the poltergeist the two had become fast friends bonding over tales of trouble-making. He soared away through a wall and Alice continued on to the Gryffindor Common Room. She found the Common Room empty and dark and proceeded up to her dormitory.

Reaching her room, Alice fell into bed. She was exhausted and had just enough energy to kick her shoes off before burrowing under the covers. She fell fast asleep, but it wasn’t long before Emily was shaking her shoulder to wake her up for breakfast. Alice grumbled something incoherent, but Emily kept shaking her shoulder.

“I’m awake!” she finally growled out. Emily sighed.

“Oh good, hurry up, we’re running late!”

“What?” Alice asked, now alert.

“Yeah, if you want breakfast we gotta go now! I didn’t wake up as early as I usually do, probably because we had Astronomy so late last night. By the way, when did you get back?” Emily asked as Alice slid from the bed. 

It was a good thing that Alice hadn’t changed out of her clothes from last night because as it was they just barely had time to grab a few fruits to finish on their way to Transfiguration. Well, Emily grabbed some fruit, Alice grabbed toast and a few strips of bacon. Her fingers were still greasy when the girls sat down at a desk beside Katie and Leanne.

McGonagall had them continue working on changing the matchstick into a needle. Alice smirked. After a while, McGonagall made her way over to Emily and Alice’s table. Emily was starting to get it, her matchstick looked a bit sleeker, as if it was turning from wood to metal. McGonagall applauded her efforts and turned her attention to Alice.

Alice was leaning back in her chair, feet propped up on the desk, blowing up at a paper bird she was keeping aloft with a blast of air from her wand. McGonagall’s lips drew into a tight line as a crease formed between her eyebrows.

“Miss Connen, this is class time, not recess,” she scolded.

Alice dropped her feet back onto the ground and the paper bird fell onto the table. She had a grin on her face and looked directly at McGonagall, not even flinching at the glare she was receiving.

“Oh, I know Professor. I was just messing around because I finished!” Alice explained.

McGonagall tried to hide her surprise. Alice gestured to the needle resting on the table before her. McGonagall’s eyes widened visibly.

“You did this?” McGonagall asked, lifting the needle to inspect it. It was a perfect transfiguration. Alice nodded triumphantly. “Show me,” McGonagall said, setting another matchstick before Alice.

Alice’s grin slipped a bit, thinking McGonagall didn’t believe her and thought she was cheating. Alice pointed her wand at the matchstick and closed her eyes before repeating the spell. It still took a couple repetitions, but the matchstick transformed completely into a needle. McGonagall couldn’t hide her surprise now.

“That’s… that’s excellent work Miss Connen!” McGonagall declared.

Alice’s smile seemed to fill her face.

“Honestly, you must be a very talented young lady. And growing up in the Muggle world, it makes your progress all the more impressive! I’ve seen only a few other students take to Transfiguration as fast as you and your brother have!” McGonagall praised.

Alice’s face fell a bit at the mention of her brother.

“Well, professor,” Alice began, a knot of guilt in her stomach. “I didn’t just get this. I was actually working on it, like all night!”

McGonagall’s look softened a bit. But the look of pride remained. “Miss Connen, that does not make your achievement any less impressive. On the contrary, I find it quite admirable and impressive that you were so resilient! Often, it’s not just sheer talent, but the dedication that makes a great witch. Excellent work!”

Alice seemed to glow from McGonagall’s praise for the rest of class. It wasn’t until they were heading down to lunch and ran into Lee Jordan that Alice was reminded that their next lesson was flying.

“Aren’t you gonna eat something?” Emily asked, a bit concerned. Alice sat at the table, looking at all the food with a bit of a queasy look.

“I’ll pass,” Alice said, ignoring her stomach’s grumble. She wasn’t gonna be the kid that couldn’t keep her lunch down during flying lessons. Emily seemed to catch her meaning and halted before getting more food.

“That’s probably wise,” Emily replied, just eating the apple she’d already gotten.

Alice trudged down to the field, her stomach was forming in knots and twisting upon itself, just like it did every time before she flew in an airplane, except this time it was worse. Emily was seemingly unaffected as she chattered on like she typically did. She was actually trying to distract Alice, as Emily could see how scared she was.

“So, that made my mom really upset and she started talking in French really fast! That’s what she does when she gets mad, she rattles off in French, and even if you can understand French it’s difficult to understand her because she gets talking so fast! So my brother just kinda stood there like a landed fish, just staring at her as she fumed incoherently, which of course made my mom even angrier because she thought he wasn’t listening to her!” Emily kept glancing over at Alice to see if her plan was working. It didn’t seem to be.

They got to the field where there were twenty-four brooms laid out in neat rows on the ground. The Gryffindors were having flying lessons with the Ravenclaws, and the houses almost instinctively segregated themselves. Alice and Jason were across from each other.

“You okay?” Jason mouthed to Alice. She nodded weakly but her brother noticed she looked everywhere but at the brooms before her.

“Welcome to your first flying lesson! I’m Madam Hooch,” a woman with short gray hair and yellow, hawk-like eyes declared. The students all turned their attention to her. “Well, what are you waiting for? Everyone stand by a broomstick.”

Alice sucked in a deep breath as she went to stand by a broomstick next to Emily. Jason came over and took his place by a broomstick on her other side. Alice was grateful for his support.

“Now, everyone hold out your hand above your broomstick, and say ‘Up!’” Madam Hooch instructed.

The students did as told and for the next few minutes, the field clamored with students sternly calling out ‘up’ to their broomsticks. For some students, it only took a couple orders before the broomstick flew up into their hand. Others took a bit longer.

Jason’s broom cooperated relatively quickly. He glanced over at Alice whose broom was still on the ground. Alice was growing increasingly frustrated as the broomstick continued to ignore her. Jason was relieved. If Alice was getting angry, it meant she was forgetting some of her terror. Finally, after a very angry, stern command, Alice’s broomstick flew up into her hand.

“All right, now put one leg over your broomstick and push off of the ground firmly,” Madam Hooch instructed.

The students all began jumping, trying to get into the air on their broomsticks. Alice had to laugh a bit. They looked quite ridiculous, everyone jumping about on broomsticks. All the kids that had grown up in magic families got up quickly as they had been riding brooms for a while already. A couple Muggle-born kids got into the air and they hovered a few inches above the ground, staring down, some in fear others in excitement. Jason got up into the air after just a few tries and he glared down at Alice, who was barely hopping, not trying at all really.

Alice must’ve felt his glare because she looked up at him. She got Jason’s silent message and finally did a real push off of the ground. Her feet hovered a few inches off of the ground as she sat on the broomstick, staring down at the ground in fear.

“Alice!” Emily called. 

Alice quickly looked over at Emily who was hovering next to her. Emily eased her hands off of the broomstick and held them out to her sides.

“Look! No hands!” she grinned. She lost her balance a bit though, and her hands clamped back down on the handle. She laughed a bit as she steadied herself.

“Now, to direct your broom, just point the handle in the direction you want to go and lean forward, the further forward the faster you’ll go. For now, go slowly,” Madam Hooch called out as she got on her broom and hovered a bit above the students.

Emily had ridden a broomstick before, so she moved easy enough. Though she had never been very good at it, so she was a bit wobbly. Other pure-bloods and half-bloods flew with ease, a few boys zoomed up very fast and began chasing each other. Madam Hooch’s whistle cut through the air and she flew up to scold the boys.

“Mister Ward! Mister Parks! I said go slowly! Now is not the time for showing off!”

The two boys flew back down with Madam Hooch, her ordering them sternly to remain within ten feet off the ground. The boys were sullen, but continued chasing each other around. They zoomed past Alice, rattling her a bit on her broom. She clung to the handle with a death grip and cursed the boys under her breath.

Jason was handling flying very well, looking much more confident flying than Emily. He had clearly gotten all the Quidditch genes from their parents. Jason flew down to Alice.

“Alice, if you stare down at the ground, that’s where you’ll go,” he instructed gently.

“Heh, that sounds a lot like the ‘eye on the ball’ speech I gave you back in little league!” she laughed, though her voice was a bit shaky. She did listen to him though and looked up at him.

“Think about it like riding a bike, or skating,” Jason offered and flew a bit ahead of her and turned back around to face her. “Now, fly over to me.”

Alice leaned just the slightest bit forward. She progressed towards him at a snail’s pace.

“While I’m young, please,” Jason teased.

“Shut up,” Alice muttered, glancing down at the ground.

“No! Eyes on me!” Jason ordered sternly. Alice’s eyes snapped back up to him, with a bit of a glare, but it was half-hearted at best.

She leaned forward a bit more and flew over to Jason. She flew past him and overcorrected trying to stop herself though and leaned backwards. This caused her broom to go backwards, but Jason grabbed hold of the handle of her broom as she came back past him. Alice quickly straightened up.

“You’re doing well,” Jason encouraged Alice. She gave him a shaky grin.

“This is terrifying. Can we go down now?” Alice asked, partly joking, mostly serious.

Luckily, Madam Hooch had gotten tired of chasing around Misters Ward and Parks, and ordered them all back to the ground. Alice was the first one back on solid land. Emily quickly joined her. Jason was on his way down when another Ravenclaw bumped into him on her way down.

“Oh, sorry!” she apologized.

“Oh, no, it’s fine,” Jason assured her. The two floated down to the ground and hopped off their brooms.

“I’m Cho,” the girl introduced herself.

“Jason,” he returned. The girl cast him a very pretty smile.

Alice would’ve scoffed had she seen the exchange, but luckily for Jason she was too focused on blessing and thanking the ground for always being there to support her. Madam Hooch dismissed the students and the Ravenclaws headed back up to the castle, Jason walking with Cho. The Gryffindors were done for the day so Alice and Emily headed to the lake.

“That wasn’t so bad, right?” Emily prompted Alice.

“Are you kidding? That was terrifying! I never want to do that again,” Alice swore.

“Oh, well, I’m sorry Alice, but we have this class for the rest of the semester,” Emily tried to break the news gently to Alice. Alice stopped and stared at Emily blankly for a moment before turning to look up into the sky.

“God, why are you punishing me?” she implored.

Two boys raced past the girls, just barely avoiding clipping Alice’s shoulder. They were the two boys who had been chasing each other during flying lessons, one of them Alice recognized as Thomas, the kid that had called Triggs a nutter. The girls watched as the boys headed straight for Liz, who was standing by the lake talking with Katie and Leanne. 

Liz saw the boys out of the corner of her eye and, turning, she saw what they were planning. She sighed and rolled her eyes while Katie and Leanne backed up quickly after noticing the boys barreling towards them. Liz simply stood there, watching the boys with an annoyed look as they raced towards her. Right before they could grab her to push her into the lake, she slipped out of the way. The boys had too much momentum to stop themselves and barreled straight into the lake with a splash. Alice guffawed as she and Emily caught up to see the boys spluttering in the lake and wiping their hair out of their eyes.

“No fair, Liz!” one of the boys complained.

“What? Why are you blaming me? I didn’t do anything!” Liz returned mockingly.

“Yeah, you guys just ran straight into the lake!” Alice joined the teasing.

The boys were sullen as they clambered ashore.

“I told you it wouldn’t work, Cole!” Thomas grumbled accusingly, plucking a mat of seaweed from his shirt and letting it plop onto the ground.

“Me? The whole thing was your idea!” Cole retorted, smoothing his brown hair, which was sticking up everywhere, down and out of his face.

 Thomas leaned over and messed up Cole’s hair. Cole shoved at Thomas’s shoulder, jokingly, and tried to re-fix his hair. Thomas returned it, starting an actual tussle between the two boys. The girls rolled their eyes and ignored them.

“Nice move, Liz,” Alice commented admiringly.

“Thanks, I grew up with three older brothers, I know all the tricks,” Liz explained grinning. “These guys are amateurs really,” she stated loudly so the boys could hear.

The boys halted their tussle, Cole letting Thomas out of a headlock.

“Hey! We’re not amateurs! Well, Cole maybe, but not me!” Thomas returned.

“Hey!” Cole laughed and tackled him, resuming their tussle.

“Yeah, you’re really proving us wrong,” Alice smirked sardonically. Emily giggled.

“Connen!” a trio of voices called out.

Alice turned to see Fred, George, and Lee on the other side of the lake, waving frantically at her. Alice returned the wave and the boys started racing to her. They were delayed a bit as George knocked Lee out of his way, pushing him into Fred, causing the two to fall in a tangle, which tripped up George. Alice had managed to compose herself by the time they got over to her, all a bit breathless.

“Hey! How’d flying lessons go?” Lee asked.

Fred pulled a twig out of his hair and then gently put it in Lee’s. Lee didn’t notice, causing the twins to shake with suppressed laughter. Alice couldn’t hide a grin at the twins and Lee noticed, turning to the twins and going at them. 

“Hey! Take it easy! I’ve got smoke bombs in my pocket, remember!” Fred flinched away.

Lee didn’t tackle him, like he had planned to but twisted Fred’s arm. George pulled the twig out of Lee’s hair, showing him what Fred did. Lee released and punched Fred, but they all returned their attention to Alice with grins on their faces.

“So?” Lee prompted.

“Have we discovered the next Quidditch legend?” Fred grinned.

“Well, actually—funny thing, see…” Alice laughed awkwardly, avoiding eye contact. “I’m, uh… kinda… terrified of flying,” she finally admitted.

“What?” George exclaimed.

“Yeah, can’t get more than two feet off the ground without my stomach turning itself inside out,” Alice nodded.

“But that’s like a fish being afraid to swim! You’re a Connen!” Lee was baffled.

“I’m half-Connen—” Alice began but was interrupted by Fred.

“—and half-Ackers, a 1973 Gryffindor Quidditch champion!”

“Yeah, well, it looks like my brother got their talent, unfortunately for us he’s in Ravenclaw,” Alice explained.

The boys looked crushed, especially Lee.

“But, who’s gonna replace Charlie when he leaves? You were gonna continue a legacy!” Lee complained.

“Sorry, guys,” Alice shrugged.

“Maybe it was just first time jitters!” George offered.

“Yeah! Maybe by the end of the year you’ll be zooming around Hogwarts! Ready to join us next year!” Fred agreed.

“I highly doubt that. I’ve always been afraid of flying, like in planes,” Alice explained. “But guys, we’ve got a great team this year! We’ll be fine, we’ve got that cup!” Alice tried to cheer them up.

It worked only mildly.

Alice bit her lip in thought. Her face brightened and for a brief moment, Emily noticed a mischievous expression on Alice’s face before it disappeared, hidden by an innocent-seeming smile.

“Hey, guys! What’s that?” Alice shouted, pointing out over the lake.

Coincidentally, there actually was something curious in the lake. A giant tentacle broke the surface of the water and splashed down, making waves lap up against the shore. The boys turned to look.

“Oh, that’s just the Giant Squid, he’s been in the lake forever!” Fred explained nonchalantly.

Alice ducked her shoulder and rammed the group. Unfortunately, her plan to knock them into the lake didn’t go so well. Firstly, Fred was a lot stockier than she had thought and so her ramming him only slightly set him off balance. Second, she rammed right into Fred’s side, hitting and detonating the smoke bombs in his pocket. 

Fred let out a yelp of surprise, mingled with a bit of pain as the bomb had burst against him. Their group was quickly enveloped in foul-smelling smoke that stung their eyes. They all stumbled out of the smoke cloud, coughing and their eyes watering.

They sat down under a tree a good distance from the smoke cloud and coughed the last of it out of their lungs. They then erupted into laughter. Fred was doubled over.

“Well, that didn’t go as planned,” Alice chuckled.

“Maybe you should leave the tricks to us,” George laughed.

“Hey! I’m a good trickster! Just ask my brother,” Alice retorted, drawing herself up proudly.

“Yeah, but that was Muggle stuff, magical trickery is on a whole ‘nother level!” Fred scoffed.

Alice’s jaw dropped, insulted.

“We’ll see what level I’m at!” Alice returned, grinning.

“Is that a challenge?” Lee asked, eyes glinting.

“Yes! It is! You guys try to get me with your ‘superior’ magic tricks, and I’ll try to get you with my ‘inferior’ Muggle tricks,” Alice declared.

“We’ll keep tally of successful pranks,” Fred continued.

“Double points if you turn someone’s prank against them!” George added.

“Yes! And whoever has the most points by the end of the Quidditch tournament wins, and the loser has to carry the books of the winner for the rest of the year,” Alice said.

“What kinda prize is that? We don’t carry books!” Fred objected.

“How ‘bout, loser is the test subject of all the winner’s future pranks,” George offered.

“No, that’s not quite good enough either,” Alice waved it off. Tapping her finger against her lips she contemplated. Her eyes widened and she raised her hand in excitement. “I’ve got it! Loser has to turn over all their gadgets to the winner and has to stand up and declare their pranking inferiority at the end of the year feast!”

“Ooh, that’s wicked,” Fred grinned.

They were all agreed and sealed the deal with a handshake, upon which Alice got her first point, hiding a buzzer in her palm that shocked Fred when he shook her hand. By that point the wind had shifted and the smoke was spreading across the lake, forcing all the students relaxing by it to evacuate inside.

Each side racked up a few more points in the Gryffindor Common Room before they all headed off to their rooms. Alice climbed in bed, her mind racing with all kinds of pranks. It was then she realized that she would never be safe from that point on. She’d always be peering around doorways and inspecting her things anticipating a trick. She slept like a baby that night. 

She lived for this kind of excitement. 


	9. Only a Week in and Already on Two (maybe three) People's Hit Lists- A New Record!

Alice thought it fitting that Potions was in the dungeon.

The cloying smells of the potions ingredients had no place up above in the castle with its scents of melting wax and metal fixtures which Alice had come to love. Alice doubted that the dungeon could ever be rid of its odor; it seemed as much a part of the room as the darkness and stone floors. 

There was almost a moldy feel to the air, if that made any sense. The air was cold enough to set students shivering, but sticky like the air by the ocean or in a musty library, at least until the fires were lit under their cauldrons, then it became uncomfortably warm. The bubbling of the brews in the cauldrons set a soundscape that reminded Alice of cooking, making her hungry, but the smell and look of the brews just set her stomach into further turmoil.

Professor Snape fit the room too.

He had a cold, gloomy look to match the room’s atmosphere. His dark, greasy hair provided the comparison with the mustiness of the room. His voice also seemed a bit nasally and drawling, though he spoke perfectly clear. His eyes seemed to delve into the soul of the object of their gaze, but looked only for the blemishes on it, tossing away the shiny parts. Thus he looked at everyone as if they were despicable to him.

At least, Alice got that impression after she found Snape glaring at her as if she were a specimen he was dissecting. He must’ve found her insides disagreeable. Maybe his stomach was in just as much turmoil as her own from the smells and sounds of the dungeon.

Snape’s gaze flicked away from her imperiously and landed on someone to her left. Alice turned to see Jason sit down at the table next to her with a pretty girl with raven-black hair. Alice vaguely recognized her from flying class but couldn’t recall her name. Snape cast Jason the same look he gave Alice, and she briefly wondered if he had gone here when their mom had. If he had disliked their mom that could explain the immediate dislike he seemed to have for the twins. Alice decided to ask the Weasleys when Snape had gone to school the next time she saw them.

Snape seemed to stalk, back and forth, at the front of the classroom like a predatory cat, even though Alice fancied he matched a bird more in looks. He stopped behind his podium and started the class.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making,” he began. Even though he barely spoke above a whisper, he had a similar gift as McGonagall in keeping a class quiet with relatively no effort.

"As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses....”

Alice rolled her eyes. If she wanted a dramatic monologue she’d go to the Globe Theater.

 “I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death -- if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach." More silence followed this little speech.

Alice scoffed, but silently so as not to draw any more ire from the Head of Slytherin. The Weasley twins had warned her that Snape was antagonistic towards Gryffindor. She didn’t really believe it until Alicia and Angelina corroborated it.

“McLaggen!” Snape snapped suddenly.

The Gryffindor boy he was referring to was taken completely by surprise. Considering he had been turned around joking with another boy, Alice figured that was Snape’s purpose.

“What would I get if I combined sliced ginger, ground scarab beetles, and armadillo bile?”

McLaggen looked dumbfounded, his mouth opening and closing like a landed fish. His friends chuckled and he shushed them angrily. He avoided Snape’s gaze as he gave his answer.

“I… I don’t know,” he mumbled.

“Sir. You don’t know, sir,” Snape spat.

“I don’t know, sir,” McLaggen amended, shrinking in his seat.

“As expected. Class time is my time so I’ll expect your attention to be focused where it should from now on,” Snape scolded sternly. “By the way, those three ingredients are combined to make a Wit-Sharpening Potion, something you and your friends might want to look into.”

Alice chuckled appreciatively at the dig. McLaggen and his friends had recently been proving themselves annoying brutes that didn’t seem to understand the subtler side of humor. Unfortunately, her outburst drew Snape’s attention onto her.

“Miss Connen, since you seem to find this all so amusing, maybe you can tell me when fluxweed should be picked for use in Polyjuice potion?” Snape sneered.

Alice’s eyebrows drew down low over her narrowed eyes. Snape glared at her, and she threw it right back at him. Jason’s hand had raised for the previous question, and returned to the air for this one too.

"I don't know the answer. Why don't you ask my brother?" Alice grumbled, nodding her head in Jason’s direction.

Snape’s eyes narrowed angrily.

"Five points from Gryffindor," Snape said maliciously. "Be careful, Miss Connen, or you will lose more points for your cheek."

Alice opened her mouth for an angry retort but she was so furious, all that she could force out was an indignant little squeak. Emily, whose usual cheerful persona had been stifled by the gloomy atmosphere of the dungeons immediately upon entering the classroom, brightened just a bit, the corner of her mouth twitching up at her friend’s uncharacteristic squeak.

“Fluxweed must be picked at the full moon to be used in Polyjuice Potion. You should all be writing this down,” Snape said disdainfully.

Alice fumed for the rest of class as everyone paired up and set about to mix a simple boil cure potion. She was lucky she had Emily as her partner as Alice was so mad she hardly paid any attention to what she was doing. Emily made sure to keep Alice from adding too many dried nettles or cutting stuff that needed to stay whole. Really, Emily just gave Alice something to crush or put in the cauldron and Alice did it blindly, Emily did all the measuring and stirring. Emily did find Alice’s anger to be useful in crushing the snake fangs into a powder.

Snape swept around the room, his long black cloak fluttering behind him like the wings of a dark bird, criticizing everyone. Even Jason was criticized, which Alice didn’t see how that was possible as everything he ever did was perfect. Overhearing, that seemed to be Snape’s complaint, that Jason was doing things too ‘by the book.’ Alice scoffed and grabbed a handful of porcupine needles.

Emily just managed to stop Alice before she put them in, quickly snatching them from Alice’s hand before they dropped into the bubbling cauldron. This brought Alice back to the real world. She glanced at Emily in confusion mingled with surprise.

“Not until after the potion’s been taken off the fire! Otherwise it could become like acid and melt the cauldron and burn whatever it touches!” Emily forewarned, setting the porcupine quills on her side of the desk, far out of Alice’s rage-blind reach.

Alice thanked Emily and let her add the porcupine quills when the time came. Their potion turned out pretty good, at least that’s what they assumed from Snape’s silent, disdainful look before he moved on to scold someone who messed it up. Class couldn’t end soon enough for Alice, and even Emily brightened up significantly upon exiting the dungeon.

"That was the unfairest thing in the world! And by the way, it was sarcasm, not cheek!" Alice paused. "Which isn't much better, but still!" She fumed as they were walking up to the Great Hall.

“I’m just glad we didn’t have that class with the Slytherins, at least the Ravenclaws were in the same boat as we were,” Emily commented.

She was just about to walk through an archway that led up to the ground floor, but Alice noticed something red poking out behind the top left corner. Alice quickly grabbed hold of Emily and dragged her backwards a safe distance away. Emily was scared.

“What? What is it? Was there a spider?” she asked fearfully.

“Shh!” Alice snapped and cautiously approached the archway from the right side. Peering through it, she could just make out some weird-shaped thing, looking like some kind of horn but also with a box that Alice thought was surely meant to explode and douse her with something. She grinned and shook her head. The Weasley twins were good, but they couldn’t really expect to get away with such sloppy work.

Turning back to Emily, who still looked startled and confused, Alice grinned mischievously.

“There’s some kind of prank hooked up to the archway,” Alice said. Emily blinked in confusion.

“But other kids went through just fine,” she pointed out.

That was curious, Alice reflected. If other kids could go through without setting it off, then it must somehow be charmed to only get her. Clever.

“Okay, Emily, here’s what we’re gonna do!” Alice began in a hushed tone as she laid out her battle plan.

* * *

A god-awful howling rang throughout the castle. The students in the Great Hall, sitting down for lunch frantically looked around in confusion. It sounded like it had come from downstairs in the dungeons.

Fred and George grinned over at each other.

“Sounds like the trap’s been sprung!” Fred said eagerly.

The twins hopped up from their places at the table and raced out of the Great Hall and down towards the dungeons. The archway they had rigged was just around the corner, and both were eager to see Alice covered in glitter and sequins and feathers that all had Sticking charms on them so that she wouldn’t be able to get them off. Rounding the corner, the twins’ grins dropped as they stared at the scene.

Emily was lying on the ground, her eyes closed, seemingly unconscious, while Alice was kneeling next to her, crying hysterically.

“Blimey!” George exclaimed and the twins raced over to the girls.

“W-we were coming back from p-p-potions and I saw your trap at the archway and I wanted to turn it b-b-back on you guys and get d-double points so I sent Emily over to try to get it down, but sh-she couldn’t reach it and so she got up on that t-ta-table and tried to get it but she s-still couldn’t reach I t-t-told her she was reaching too far and to j-just move the table b-but she didn’t listen and she f-f-fell!” Alice rambled, tears streaming down her face as her hands shook on Emily’s arm. “Oh! This is all my f-fault!” she wailed.

George put an arm around her, casting a fearful look at Fred as he did so. This was not the plan! They didn’t mean to hurt a little girl! Embarrass one, yes, but never hurt a bystander!

“It’s not your fault, Alice,” George comforted.

“A-and when I saw her fall I r-raced over forgetting about the trap a-and it went off on me! So I guess you guys get the points,” she cried.

Fred’s eyebrow quirked. Alice wasn’t covered in glitter and sequins and feathers, but they had heard the horn sound.

“But it didn’t work, the box didn’t explode,” he spoke his thoughts aloud. Pushing off of the ground he got up and went over to inspect the trap. “We designed this ourselves! It should’ve worked perfectly!”

“Not really the time Fred!” George scolded.

“But it should’ve worked!” Fred muttered. Watching the box, Fred walked through the archway and then walked back through. Nothing happened, as it should. But maybe nothing happened because they had gotten the figurative wires crossed and it wasn’t going off at all.

“Alice, come here,” Fred ushered.

George cast him a baleful glance. Fred glared back at him and still motioned for Alice to come over. Sniffling, Alice wiped her eyes with her sleeves and walked over to where Fred stood on the other side of the archway.

“Now walk over to the other side,” Fred said, directing her back through the archway.

Alice did as he told her and nothing happened. Fred frowned and leapt up onto the table Emily had used, and inspected the trap. He tapped at it with his wand and then readjusted a few things that Emily must’ve pulled on when she fell. That should do it.

“Okay! Alice, come back!” Fred grinned, going back through the archway.

George stood up and fixed Fred with an angry glare. He grabbed hold of Alice and kept her from going over to Fred.

“No. Fred, this is ridiculous! Her friend’s hurt! And you’re worried about the stupid prank!” George scolded.

“Well, the design was clearly flawed, we have to figure out how to fix it!” Fred complained.

George advanced angrily towards Fred, crossing under the archway. The twins missed the brief flash of a grin on Alice’s face. She grabbed Emily’s hand and squeezed it.

“No, this has gone too far! We’ll just go back to the drawing boards and start over with it, get a different test subject. We should really get the girl to the Infirmary, make sure she’s okay,” George explained.

Fred sighed but conceded George’s point. The twins walked back to go get Emily, but just as they passed under the archway, a blaring howl set their ears ringing. It was accompanied by a ‘pop!’ and the two were immediately doused with glitter and sequins and feathers. The twins stood in shock and silence as whatever glitter, sequins, and feathers hadn’t immediately stuck to them drifted down to the floor.

Alice burst out laughing and Emily was laughing too. The blonde girl was sitting up, perfectly fine. The twins glared at the girls.

“So, that’s double points for me! I do believe this puts me ahead!” Alice cheered.

“How did you reverse engineer it? This is an original design!” Fred demanded, outraged.

“I described it to Alice and figured out what spells were cast on it,” Emily began.

“And I instructed Emily how to reconfigure it to go off on you guys!” Alice finished.

“But then what was that howling that went off earlier?” George asked confused.

“We just blew the horn!” Emily laughed.

George hit Fred in the arm.

“I told you we should’ve put the mouthpiece inside the box!”

“Well, I’m sorry that I didn’t anticipate this!” Fred retorted caustically.

“Always expect the unexpected boys! And you guys should really be more careful, I saw that thing a mile away!” Alice teased.

“What’s going on here?” a crotchety voice demanded angrily.

“Filch,” the twins grumbled simultaneously.

A scrawny, dust-colored cat meowed angrily, as if scolding the boys for their disrespect. 

“That goes for you too, Mrs. Norris!” George growled at the cat.

Mr. Filch was an old, hunchbacked man with pale, beady eyes and quivering jowls. His hair was thin and gray and he wore a brown coat that looked like it had seen better days. Peeves had mentioned Filch to Alice earlier, and she now understood why he said to avoid him.

“Weasleys. I should’a known! Yer always bein’ disruptions! Now clean that up!” he wailed, gesturing to the glitter, sequins, and feathers stuck to the floor.

“We can’t,” George said.

“They’re stuck with a sticking charm,” Fred added.

“You’ll have to get Professor Flitwick down here to do the counter spell,” Alice explained.

For the first time, Filch’s attention went to Alice. His gaze had completely skipped over the two first-year girls upon his entering the room, bee-lining straight to the twins who were always at the center of the incident. Now he stared at Alice, who appeared to have that same troublesome look that the twins had. Filch immediately took her to be involved.

“Well, then!” Filch harrumphed. “You! Girl!” he pointed to Emily whose eyes grew to the size of saucers. “Go get this professor! And you three!” as Emily scampered off, casting Alice an apologetic look for leaving, Filch turned his ire on the Weasleys and Alice. “Yer comin’ with me!”

Fred and George sighed and followed after Filch, who was shuffling and wheezing, hustling Alice along too. This was not how she had planned to spend her free afternoon! The twins just had to poorly place that trap, didn’t they?

They reached Filch’s office and the three students waited a few steps behind Filch as he fussed with his keys. Once Filch had unlocked the door, Fred bent down to tie his shoe. Filch quickly pounced on him.

“Oi! What’s ‘e doin’? Get up!” Filch roared.

“I’m tying my shoe,” Fred explained, a hint of exasperation in his voice.

George cast Alice a knowing look and while Filch’s attention was on Fred he passed her a small bauble. Alice clutched it behind her back, and followed George’s nod to go drop it over inside a potted plant. Once that was done she meandered back over next to George, Filch none the wiser.

“Well, you’ve tied it! So get in! Don’t want you fiends doin’ any funny business!” Filch grumbled, ushering the three students inside his office. He cast a quick glance up each side of the corridor before ducking in and slamming the door behind him.

Fred quirked his eyebrow and smirked at Alice as they all positioned themselves in front of the desk, the twins bookending Alice. Filch shuffled over behind his desk and sat down in the chair. Upon realizing he had to now look up at the kids, he grew noticeably uncomfortable and shifted in his seat, avoiding looking up directly at the kids. George glanced at Fred and Alice, the corner of his mouth upturned.

“You little monsters are always causing trouble,” Filch directed at the Weasley twins.

Fred mocked shock and insult, throwing his hand up to his chest, his mouth gaping. George grinned and shrugged.

“Yeah,” he said dreamily.

“But you,” Filch ignored the boys and stared directly at Alice. “yer a new one!” he spat.

“Why yes, yes I am, Alice Connen,” she introduced herself brightly. “Nice to meet you too. My, my, what a wonderful office you have here,” she smiled, looking around.

The office was smaller than all her classrooms but felt barely larger than a closet as it was filled with filing cabinets. These contained files that documented all the wrongdoings of students for the past couple decades, as well as confiscated objects. Hanging from the ceiling were some chains and manacles, which were kept in quite good condition just in case Filch was ever allowed to use them.

“I love the manacles, they add nicely to the atmosphere of doom you’re going for, though I myself would add a cage, maybe over there in that little corner,” Alice continued.

Fred and George tried to hide their grins. Filch was blustering, his face turning red and splotchy, outraged by this girl’s insolence. Alice never once dropped the perfectly innocent, casual aplomb she had adopted since getting caught.

“You—you fiend! You’re just as despicable as these two! I’ll write you all up! For befouling the castle and for insolence!” Filch raged, leaping up from his seat.

The students remained standing casually, George with his hands in his pockets, rocking back and forth on his heels. Filch began scrabbling for papers and a quill, muttering about their disrespect and how evil they were and how this castle was running rampant with insolent little devils. Fred began to whistle.

Suddenly, a god-awful screeching pealed through the air. Filch jumped and clamped his hands over his ears. The students winced a bit but remained where they were. Filch began rambling about fiends and hastened towards the door, tripping on stacks of papers and stepping on Mrs. Norris’s tail.

“Sorry, my dear! I’ll get those imps!” Filch fumed as he was about to race out the door, but he seemed to belatedly remember the three students in his office awaiting punishment. He looked back at them. “Stay here! I’m not done with you!”

And with that Filch bolted down the corridor searching for the source of the screeching. The kids burst out laughing. They congratulated themselves on a well-laid plan and began to head for the door.

“Hold up!” Fred said interestedly. He stopped in front of the door, forcing the other two to abruptly halt before running into him. “What’s this?” he said climbing over toppled stacks of paper to a filing cabinet in the corner.

“Confiscated and Highly Dangerous,” George read the label on the cabinet aloud as he and Alice clambered after him.

“My three favorite words!” Alice grinned.

Fred opened up the filing cabinet and the kids were prepared to casually peruse through the objects, but the screeching sound suddenly ceased. Casting fearful glances at each other, Fred grabbed the object on top, a folded bit of parchment, and slammed the drawer closed. The kids then stumbled through the messy office, Fred had to catch himself with his hands to avoid falling face first out the door. George grabbed his arm and the three raced down the hall.

Rounding a corner, the kids ducked against the wall to catch their breath. They heard Filch’s shuffling footsteps and angry mutterings approaching his office. They didn’t stick around to hear his response to finding his office empty and took to their heels heading for the Common Room.

They didn’t stop running until they reached the third floor and there they all paused to catch their breath. Straightening up, Alice turned to the boys to smile triumphantly. She suddenly burst out laughing, causing the boys to give her bemused looks. She couldn’t explain herself for several minutes she was laughing so hard. 

“You guys!” she gasped. “You look ridiculous!” she exclaimed once she’d gotten her breath back from the laughing.

Fred and George turned to really look at each other and found the reason for Alice’s mirth. They were both still covered in glitter, sequins, and feathers.

“It’s like a duck attacked a disco ball!” Alice gasped, bent double with laughter once more.

The twins joined in and they all continued up to the Common Room, throwing jokes at each other along the way. When they approached the portrait hole, the fat lady was momentarily useless as she chuckled heartily at the boys. They grumbled and rolled their eyes, repeating the password. The fat lady finally got control of herself and let them in, but they could still hear her giggles as they climbed through the portrait hole.

“Ugh, climbing through this thing is a pain, I wish I could just jump through it!” Alice complained, stumbling out the other side.

“Good luck with that!” George scoffed.

Upon the twins’ entrance, the common room went into an uproar. They rolled their eyes again. Honestly this was getting old! Alice grinned at their discomfiture and went over to the blackboard, on which she and the twins were keeping score of their prank war. 

There she added her points and tallied up her new total, which put her ahead of the boys by five. It was a good lead, but Alice had to increase it, now wasn’t the time to get complacent. Already she had her next prank set in motion, and the boys wouldn’t see it coming!


	10. The Map Likes Me Better Than Y'all

Emily stood by the portrait hole, shifting her weight nervously and looking on in consternation. Alice glanced over at her and grinned and Emily gave her two thumbs up and a shaky grin that disappeared as soon as Alice redirected her attention. Alice stared down the portrait hole and assumed a runner’s stance.

She was positioned about twenty feet from the portrait hole, giving her enough room for a running start. Alice took off, sprinting towards the portrait hole, and leapt into the air just before reaching it. Ducking her head, Alice flew into the portrait hole, but a slight thud and some muttered cursing revealed to Emily that Alice was unsuccessful… again.

Alice had been trying to jump through the portrait hole for the past fifteen minutes. Every time proved unsuccessful. Either she jumped too late, often resulting in a foot getting tripped by the edge of the hole, or too early, as she had this time, not giving her enough air time to make it all the way through the portrait hole. Emily had suggested they put pillows on the edges so that Alice wouldn’t get hurt, but Alice refused adamantly. Pillows would simply get in the way, making the tight space Alice had to jump through that much smaller.

Emily had at first eagerly joined to watch Alice, but after about the sixth failure, Emily began to agree with the other Gryffindors: it couldn’t be done. She also was growing increasingly convinced that the day would end up in the hospital wing. Alice clambered back out of the portrait hole, her robes tangled all about her.

“Hey, we can come back to this later, don’t you want to go down to the lake? The Giant Squid’s out and Thomas and Cole were gonna try and tickle it!” Emily proposed in the vain attempt to entice Alice away from this venture.

Alice swiped the hair out of her face and pulled it free of the messy ponytail. She flipped her hair over and gathered it together to redo it. She shook her head firmly.

“Nope, just one more try. I just jumped too early that time, but I was only about an inch or two off!” Alice replied and went back to her position.

Emily sighed and watched as Alice raced once more towards the portrait hole. However, this time, the portrait began to swing back closed. Alice had to quickly put on the brakes but still just barely avoided running headlong into the fat lady portrait.

“What’s the deal, Fat Lady?” Alice asked in frustration. 

“Oh! Sorry, dear! I didn’t know you were still at it. I can’t just hang open all day! I can reopen if you’d like?” the fat lady asked, though she didn’t seem too keen on the idea.

“Ah, that’s fine!” Alice waved her off. “I’ll just get back to it later. Come on, Emily, we can go down to the lake now.”

The Fat Lady and Emily cast knowing looks to each other and grinned. Emily jogged a bit to catch up to Alice and the two girls headed off down the corridor. The girls found that the halls were much less lively on the weekends, with most of the students hanging outside. Reaching the lower levels, they passed more students; clumps of girls talking by a window and looking out at some kind of pick-up game some boys were playing down below, kids bent over chessboards with one side or another erupting into cheers when their chess piece overpowered their opponent’s, and of course there were always some couples off in an alcove. Emily would hastily avert her gaze, a fierce blush rising in her cheeks when they came across the latter. 

The girls made it down to the ground floor and stepped out onto the lawns. Here they found the majority of the student body. The sun was shining and dancing over the lake, and a light wind set the trees swaying gently. A group of kids were playing what looked like a friendly Hufflepuff vs. Gryffindor Quidditch game. Another, more competitive game was going on down by the forest between some Slytherins and Ravenclaws. 

Passing by another group of kids, Emily tugged at Alice’s sleeve. Looking over, Alice couldn’t stop from laughing as Emily was utterly confused by what the kids were doing. They had to have been Muggle-borns because they were playing basketball; modified of course as the baskets were floating in midair. Emily was startled and jumped when one boy leapt up to dunk the ball in the floating hoop, knocking over another boy who had slipped in last minute to block him. He fell heavily but laughed as he was helped up by the kid that had knocked him down and their game resumed immediately. Alice tried to explain the game to Emily, but she was more confused by it than Alice had been with Quidditch.

The lake was crowded, a bunch of kids swimming in the lake, a group messing with the Giant Squid, and even more just hanging out by the water’s edge. Thomas, Cole, Liz, Katie, and Leanne were over by the lake too. The girls were sitting on the edge while the boys showed off in the water, dunking each other under. Shrill squeals erupted from the group when the boys tried to drag the girls in the water. Thomas successfully dragged Leanne in while Cole was knocked back into the water by Liz whom he had mistakenly tried to push in the lake. The group waved over to Alice and Emily who returned the waves, but Alice had seen Fred, George, and Lee sitting over under a tree and she headed over to them, Emily tagging along behind.

“Reveal yourself!” Lee ordered, tapping his wand against a bit of parchment.

As Alice and Emily neared they could see writing appear on the previously blank parchment. The boys howled with laughter and the girls came up and sat down with them. Fred passed the parchment to Alice who held it out so she and Emily could read it.

“Mr. Padfoot would like to compliment Mister Jordan on his mostly successful transfiguration of his hair into a tangle of spider’s legs.

“Mr. Prongs agrees and would like to add that Jordan’s partial success doesn’t mean he no longer needs to wash his hair.

“Goodness, Mr. Wormtail agrees and the dirty dog smell may have something to do with Mister Jordan’s romantic failures.

“Mr. Moony advises Mister Jordan that this girl is out of his league and to aim lower, like he does in his academics.”

Emily tried not to laugh, as the parchment writing was very insulting to Lee. Alice had no such compunctions and burst out laughing along with Fred and George. Lee was laughing too though, so eventually Emily joined in too with her chiming giggles.

“What is this beautiful piece of art?” Alice asked when she could breathe.

“No idea,” George answered.

“Remember that bit of parchment we swiped from Filch’s office?” Fred asked. Alice nodded. “Well, this is it!”

“We were trying to figure out what it was, so we cast spells that were supposed to reveal anything hidden on it, and that’s how we discovered this!” George chuckled.

“It insulted my clothes and called my complexion stupid,” Fred continued.

“Every time you try to reveal what’s on it, it pops up with new insults for you! We’ve been doing this for an hour already!” Lee finished.

“Yeah, see watch!” George said and Alice passed the parchment back to George. She noticed as she passed it, that the words began to fade away. It was once more completely blank by the time George set his wand to it and ordered, “Show your true nature!”

“Mr. Moony would like to inform Mister G. Weasley that his ineptitude is anything but charming.

“Mr. Wormtail would like to add that Weasley is a git and it’s a miracle he has any friends at all!

“Mr. Prongs disagrees with Messrs Moony and Wormtail, and thinks Mister G. Weasley is quite intelligent and charming… for a carrot.

“Mr. Padfoot would like to wish Mister G. Weasley a good day, and try to avoid the rabbits.”

None laughed harder than George at the digs, but Alice was quick to want her turn.

“Pass it here!” Alice called and leaned over to get the parchment from George. Setting it on her lap she touched her wand to the parchment and said, “Aparecium!”

The others looked at her in surprise at the spell. Alice shrugged. “I read it in the spells book.”

“You actually read it?” Lee asked. “Oh wait, you were raised as a Muggle, never mind, continue!”

Alice turned her attention to the parchment and saw the writing reappear.

“Mister Moony would like to applaud Miss Connen! That was actually rather clever, but that being said she should really stop being such a stage hog!

“Mister Wormtail agrees and wishes Miss Connen would cease this incessant curiosity, it’s becoming a bit of a bore.

“Mister Prongs believes Miss Connen to be up to no good! This curiosity is just an agent for mischief making, too bad she’s only sub-par at pranking!

“Mister Padfoot would like to remind Miss Connen of the fate of the curious cat, mischief must be managed if it is to be successful, lest you’ll be a permanent fixture of Filch’s office, though Mister Padfoot admits Miss Connen would be the prettiest fixture in there!”

Alice scoffed at the insult to her pranking skills while Fred and George roared with laughter. 

“I think I just got hit on by a bit of parchment though!” Alice laughed at the last line.

“Ugh, well it doesn’t have eyes so that accounts for the mistake,” George teased. Alice punched him but laughed.

“It was dead on on the curiosity though!” Fred jabbed.

“I do believe Mister Prongs is correct as well! She is a trouble-maker,” Lee laughed. 

“Would you swear on that?” George laughed. Alice grinned and assumed a pompous air, sticking her nose into the air.

“I do so solemnly swear that I am up to no good!” she ducked her head in a bow at the end.

They all laughed, but Emily gasped. The others were startled and turned to her but she just pointed at the parchment. Expecting nothing more than a few added insults, Alice and the boys quickly mirrored Emily’s expression of shock.

Where previously there had been just a bit of parchment with a few handwritten insults scrawled haphazardly across, ink began to flow in delicate lines. The scrawled notes disappeared to be replaced by an elegant title page. On it was a drawing of the Hogwarts castle, complete with the Whomping Willow and everything.

“Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs are proud to present The Marauder’s Map”

Alice picked her jaw up off the floor as the boys crowded around closer to her. They all peered on as Alice cautiously opened up the parchment. Simultaneously the kids gasped.

There on the parchment which had been blank for hours, was a detailed map of Hogwarts. But it wasn’t a simple, still map of Hogwarts. The map was shifting just as Hogwarts castle was said to shift constantly, so that rooms weren’t where they were the day before and staircases swiveled and doors disappeared. There were also little tags with moving sets of footprints.

“Look! There’s Professor Snape!” Lee pointed, leaning over Alice.

Lee’s finger pointed to a pacing set of footprints in the dungeons with a tag reading “Severus Snape” above them.

“And there’s Percy!” Fred pointed to another set of footprints in the Gryffindor Common Room.

“So, what? This map shows the location of everything and everyone in Hogwarts?” Alice had to speak her thoughts out loud to make sure she was understanding this properly. She and Emily looked over at Fred, George, and Lee who met their gaze. Each face shared the same glint of joy and mischief.

“Wait? What’s that? There’s not a hall there,” Emily said pointing to a passage that supposedly went through what they all knew to be a permanently solid wall. Alice glanced at George.

“You thinking what I’m thinking?” she asked him, an eyebrow quirked.

“Secret passageways!” he grinned wickedly.

* * *

The flapping of feet echoed through the mostly empty third floor halls. The Weasley twins, Lee, Alice, and Emily raced down the corridor and swerved down a perpendicular one. They ducked into an alcove and crowded close around the Marauder’s Map that George unfolded. The kids started laughing but George shushed them.

They stared intently at a pair of footprints on the map tagged “Argus Filch” whom they all knew was still mad at the Weasleys and Alice for their previous escape and further disruptions from pranks. Regardless if they were doing anything wrong, Filch would drag them back to his office to write them up. Of course, they were up to trouble right now, but Filch didn’t know that.

The kids remained silent as they watched Filch’s footsteps race past the hall they turned down. After he was gone a good distance, they all burst into laughter and exited the alcove.

“Okay, so where’s this passageway entrance?” Fred asked, lightly backhanding his brother’s arm to get his attention.

George peered at the map and pointed them down the corridor. He pointed them up some stairs which Lee tried to take two at a time. He ended up getting stuck in an almost-split as he had apparently not noticed the gradual widening of the steps until it was too late. The others pushed him up and hustled him along. 

Once on the fourth floor, George guided them down the hall and to a mirror.

“This is it!” he said and grinned into the mirror.

The others stared blankly into the mirror at each other and then glanced expectantly to George.

“So… what do we do?” Alice asked.

George hastily looked back at the map. It showed them all standing around the mirror, but gave no other hints. He looked back to Alice and shrugged. A slight movement on the page redirected his attention though and he looked back at it. Now, the mirror on the map was sliding open. George grinned and, motioning to Fred to help him, stood up against the wall and pushed the mirror aside. A doorway was revealed and the kids, grinning gleefully, piled inside.

“Close the door!” Lee blustered as the group began to head down the passage.

Fred jogged back and poked his head out to look up and down the corridor before dragging the mirror back into place, hiding their path. This left them in complete darkness though and after much shoving and muffled complaints as people bumped into each other and stepped on their robes, someone managed to get a light. George had out his wand and the tip glowed, casting white light around the group. 

The light seemed to wash out all color and Alice fancied that they all looked like corpses. They continued down the passage, which was narrow, forcing them all to go single-file. George took the lead and Lee brought out his wand and cast the same spell so those in the back wouldn’t get lost from being outside the radius of George’s light. Though they could now see ahead of them, they had no idea where they were going.

“Hey, where are we now?” Alice asked curiously, glancing up at the ceiling and walls as if they would change to resemble a room she recognized.

George peered down at the map.

“Umm… we’re in between the armor gallery and the trophy room.”

They all stopped and it took George a few minutes to realize no one was following him. He trotted back and looked at all of them in confusion. They had narrow eyes and glanced up at him curiously.

“Those rooms are right next to each other, there’s nothing in between,” Lee stated, clearly seeking an answer.

“And they’re on the third floor, last time I checked we were on the fourth,” Emily pointed out.

George’s brow furrowed and he glanced back down at the map. Regardless, that’s where it showed them. Alice was the first to shake her head and shrug.

“We’re in a secret passageway in a magical castle, are y’all really surprised that it can go down a floor and between adjacent classrooms?”

Confusion, and a bit of entertainment lit their faces.

“Y’all? What is that?” Emily giggled.

Alice sighed in irritation as the others grinned.

“It is a conjugation of ‘you all’ guys! Please!” she grumbled.

“You know, I was starting to not notice the accent, but it’s times like these I remember that you’re American,” Fred commented.

“I have an accent?” Alice burst. “Y’all are the ones with an accent and funny words! Not saying ‘h’s and ‘r’s and calling fries ‘chips’ I mean what is that?”

“Easy there Southern belle!” Lee laughed.

Alice groaned and the others laughed but they continued on.

Alice swore they were in that passageway for hours and her stomach was beginning to growl in irritation at having skipped lunch. She tried to soothe her quarrelsome stomach by denying thoughts of food, but of course because she was trying not to think about food, images of a big juicy steak, chicken alfredo, grilled mahi mahi, chocolate cake, and M&M cookies cycled through her mind’s eye.

Alice was so preoccupied with battling back these thoughts that she wasn’t paying attention to where she was going and walked straight into the back of Fred, who had suddenly stopped. She was immediately jolted from her concentration. She gave Fred a hard poke in the back.

“Why are we stopped?” she grumbled.

“It’s a dead-end,” Fred replied.

“What?” Alice blurted out in frustration.

“No!” George halted the group’s outcries of irritation. “We’ve just come to the end of the passageway, and there’s some kind of door or something, just like the mirror at the other end. Fred, Lee, help me push it open,” he called back. 

Alice and Emily plastered themselves against the wall to give Lee enough room to pass up to the front, but he still had to go sideways. The three boys leaned into the door with their shoulders and pushed. They seemed to be making no headway and Alice was about to suggest that it actually was a dead-end and they were trying to push open a wall, when it suddenly popped open. Fred and George managed to catch each other, but Lee flopped through the open doorway. Fred and George climbed over Lee to get out and then helped him to his feet. Alice and Emily followed them out and took stock of their surroundings, the door closing silently behind them. 

They were inside some building, with wooden planks for floors, walls, and ceiling. They could hear voices drifting through the walls and light filtered in through a grimy window. A door led out to what, by the sound of it, they assumed to be an inn or bar, and shadows moved through the crack between the door and the floorboards. There were casks and boxes and shelves crowded in the room they were in, containing food stuffs, making Alice assume they were in the storage room.

“Oi! I know where we are!” Lee began but George beat him to it.

“The storage room of the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade,” George said rolling up the map with a snap. Lee looked glum for a brief moment at George stealing his moment, but it was quickly replaced by excitement.

“Only third years and up are allowed to come to Hogsmeade!” Lee explained to Alice and Emily.

“Yeah, Charlie says it’s awesome! We had been planning on how to sneak over here, looks like we found it!” Fred commented.

Alice suddenly shushed them all. Listening intently she heard footsteps growing closer and a shadow through the gap stopped before the door. Alice quickly shoved everyone back towards the secret passageway. Piling inside, she pulled the door closed just as the door at the other end opened, bringing with it a rush of hollers and laughter. 

Alice found a hole in the wooden door and peered through to find a woman humming as she gathered a few bottles in her arms. Fingers poked at her back and tugged at her robe but she waved them away. She was so focused on keeping an eye on the woman, she guessed was a barmaid, that she hadn’t paid attention to their current location.

The others had noticed it first upon being shoved inside, finding themselves in a cupboard instead of the stone passageway. The boys shrugged as Alice waved them off, figuring she’d notice eventually. 

Alice’s eyes widened and she shoved everyone back further into what she thought was the passageway only to push them back into a wall. Here she stopped and glanced around in confusion, but the rattling of the door handle brought her back to her senses. Whispering ‘hide’ to everyone, Alice ducked back behind a shelf and dropped to the floor.

Fred scrambled back behind a barrel, which Lee hopped into. Emily shrunk down behind a cask and George nearly knocked over a shelf in his haste to get behind it. Luckily, they were all out of sight by the time light pierced into the dark cupboard.

The woman was still humming and went over to the shelf that George was hiding behind. Peering at the items on the shelf she apparently wasn’t finding what she sought and bent down to investigate some lower shelves. The shelves George was crouched down behind. The kids held their breath as the woman reached for a box right in front of George that, upon removal, would reveal the boy. However, her hand stopped just before grabbing the box. Her hand floated in the air for a moment before it pulled back and she called out the door.

“Hey, Ros! Where’re the little umbrellas?”

“I’ve got ‘em up here!” a voice drifted back.

The woman grumbled and straightened before proceeding out of the cupboard and shutting the door. Only then did the kids let out a collectively held breath. They waited a few moments before coming out of hiding, everyone grinning, but shaking a bit after the close call. Alice immediately returned to her previous confusion.

“So why is this a cupboard now? It was just a secret passageway, was it not?” she demanded of the others.

“I don’t know, maybe we have to say something, like a spell or password to make it the passageway,” Lee shrugged.

They all looked to George who turned to the map. He looked back up at them and shook his head. The map didn’t have any clues for them. Sighing, the group exited the cupboard.

“So we’re stuck over here,” Emily stated glumly.

“Naw! I’m sure there are other passages back to the castle!” Fred grinned and put an arm around her, trying to cheer her up.

“Yeah, there’s one in the cellar of Honeydukes,” George confirmed.

“But on our way there, how ‘bout we get some food?” Alice proposed.

The other’s stomach growls agreed.

“Well, we can eat here at the Three Broomsticks,” Lee suggested.

“Yeah, but this place is pretty popular, we’re more likely to get caught by someone who recognized us, or just thought we looked too young. The Hog’s Head though, barely any people and the few there won’t ask questions,” Fred said.

“Yeah, but if we go up there, people will think we’re up to something, whereas if we go to the crowded place, no one will pay us any attention,” Alice argued.

Although the kids could see the logic behind both, George recalled that Charlie said the Hog’s Head didn’t usually serve food, so they went with Alice’s plan. However, they didn’t want to just go right on in from the back, so the boys started looking for a way to get outside and enter from the front.

Fred, George, and Lee went over to the window and tried to open it. It was old though and didn’t want to budge. While the boys struggled with the window, Alice opened the door into the inn. The boys and Emily immediately pounced on her, dragging her back inside and letting the door close.

“What are you doing? You can’t go out there!” George whispered fiercely.

“If you pretend like you belong, people won’t question it. Kids sneaking around are clearly up to something, but kids walking around confidently won’t draw attention,” Alice explained matter-of-factly.

The others didn’t really like it, but seeing as they didn’t have any other options they followed her lead. Alice headed out the door into the common room of the bar her head high and her eyes fixed to her goal: an open table. The others followed, though much more conspicuously, their heads bowed and trying to avoid contact. This resulted in them bumping into Alice frequently, causing her to turn around and rebuke them, but she did so jokingly so bystanders assumed they were messing with her.

Despite the others looking like a herd of cows led to slaughter, they managed to make it to the table without trouble. The kids slipped onto the benches and were promptly greeted by the woman who had almost stumbled upon them in the cupboard. The kids pretended like nothing happened. The place was crowded, so the barmaid paid little attention to the kids anyway as she was rushing through her tables.

“What’ll it be?” she asked absentmindedly as a quill and notepad floated up next to her.

“Shepherd’s pie and five butterbeers!” Fred ordered for them all and the quill took it down on the notepad.

The kids fished through the pockets for money and tossed it onto the table, which the barmaid swiped up and sent the coins flying over to the bar where a cash register opened and the coins deposited themselves inside, the register closing with a ring. The note tore itself from the pad and flew over to the bar where the bartender and owner, Madam Rosmerta, took a quick look and hollered out orders. The barmaid hurried along to the next table to deliver a round of drinks.

“We’re gonna get caught,” Emily muttered fearfully as she sat slumped on the bench.

“Well we wouldn’t have gotten caught but Fred ordered alcohol! They’re gonna card us!” Alice whispered fiercely.

The others looked at her in confusion.

“What are you talking about?” Lee asked.

“They need I.D. to serve alcohol, we’re under-age!” she returned. 

“There’s no alcohol in butterbeer,” George explained.

Alice raised her eyebrows and her shoulders slumped.

“Oh, well, then… just forget that little outburst,” she waved it off and resumed her normal countenance. Turning to Emily, “We’re not gonna get caught, no one pays attention to kids unless they’re teenagers and likely to cause trouble.”

Alice seemed to be proven correct as no one paid them a second glance. The barmaid delivered their food and drinks with hardly a word. The kids ate and talked but finished rather quickly. They made their way out of the inn and down the busy streets looking up at signs for the one proclaiming “Honeydukes Sweetshop.”

The twins and Alice were momentarily distracted by a sign advertising “Zonko’s Joke Shop” and a window displaying all kinds of strange objects like Nose-biting Teacups. Emily and Lee managed to drag them away and after that they found Honeydukes quickly. Upon entering the kids’ mouths dropped.

Staring, the shop was filled with shelves upon shelves of all kinds of succulent looking candy and chocolate. They all shot off in different directions, their focus caught by a particular treat. Fred was awestruck by the array of fizzing whizbees, while Lee Jordan treated the display of exploding bon-bons like he’d discovered the Holy Grail. George was gathering armfuls of cockroach clusters and Drooble’s Best Blowing Gum and anything he could get his hands on. Emily bee-lined for the Canary Creams while Alice was busy grabbing every flavor Chocoball.

The kids ending up spending half an hour in the store loading themselves up with candy. As the light started to fade outside, the kids dragged themselves from the sweets and sneaked downstairs to the cellar. The stairs creaked, but there was such a crowd up above they doubted if anyone would hear.

“Okay, there’s supposedly a trap door somewhere down here,” George said, peering at the Marauder’s Map where a square in the floor was outlined leading to a passageway.

The floor was dusty and the room was filled with boxes and crates. The kids set to scouring the floor for the trap door. Lee peered into a box to find it filled with Pepper Imps. With a mischievous grin, he started to reach his hand inside, but a hand came out of nowhere to slap his wrist. He stared up at Emily with a hurt and surprised expression.

“No stealing!” she said sternly.

“Found it!” Fred called and the others gathered over to him where he pulled the trap door up revealing a ladder leading down into darkness. 

“Lumos!” he said and the tip of his wand burst into light. Sticking his wand in his pocket, the tip poking out to still cast its light, he descended the ladder rungs. The others followed and dropped down into a dirt-floored and –walled tunnel. The group set off down the tunnel at a quick pace, trying to get back to the castle before nightfall.

Another ladder awaited them at the other end of the passageway. The group stopped beneath it to consult quickly.

“Okay, so we go up here, we’ll come out on the third floor corridor, but it might be after dark so Filch or Mrs. Norris could be on the patrol. If we get caught we can’t let this map fall into their hands!” Fred explained.

“Well, it was blank when you found it, there has to be a way to get it back to that!” Lee argued.

“Yeah! There’s gotta be something to clear it, I mean we only figured it out because I said something based on what the insults said!” Alice agreed.

“The map has helped us with everything so far! Why not this too!” Emily asserted.

“Okay, what are some of the things the map has said?” George asked.

“Filch’s office fixture!” Lee said pointing his wand to the paper.

Nothing happened.

The others raised their eyebrows at him.

“It’s what one of ‘em said about Alice,” he shrugged then took on a defensive stance, “I don’t see any of you coming up with anything!”

The kids quickly began repeating anything and everything they remembered the map insulting them with.

“Spider legs!” Alice said.

“Carrot!” Emily called.

“Hand-me-down clothes!” George ordered.

“Mischief Managed!” Fred said.

At this last the map began to disappear, as if fading through the parchment. George folded up the map and stuffed it in his robes while they all turned to Fred.

“One of them said it in Alice’s insults, but I thought it sounded out of place,” Fred explained.

“The hint to how to reveal the map was in Alice’s insult too,” Lee pointed out.

The twins rounded on Alice.

“Why does it like you?” they demanded.

“I don’t know!” Alice shouted back.

“Guys! Stop! Let’s just go up!” Emily’s voice cut through their arguing.

The twins were surly, upset that these genius trouble-makers that made the map seemed to trust Alice with their invention over them. They went up the ladder though, coming up through a statue of a hump-backed, one-eyed witch. The corridor was lit by candles and the pale light of the moon drifting in through the windows. The twins took up positions on either side, keeping watch on each end of the corridor as the others ascended the ladder.

Emily, the last one, was just climbing out when the most dreaded sound rang through the corridor: a meow. Turning as one, the kids stared in horror at Mrs. Norris who was sitting at the end of the corridor.

“Run!” Lee shouted.

Alice grabbed Emily and dragged her out of the passage, the statue sliding back in place to hide it. The group shot off down the other side of the corridor and around the corner. They could hear a call come up through the corridor as the shuffling of feet heralded Filch’s pursuit.

The group skidded down a side-corridor and raced down a staircase. Bolting out onto the second floor they searched for a hiding place. Lee found a door and the group leapt inside and slammed the door behind them. Their backs pressed against the door, the kids tried to catch their breath while they listened for their pursuer.

Alice glanced up into the room to make eye-contact with Professor Triggs who was staring at them in surprise. He was sitting behind his desk, a paper in hand and two stacks of them on the desk, one to his right and a larger one to his left. He was clearly in the middle of grading papers when the kids barged into his office in the middle of the night.

Alice tapped at the others to get their attention. Fred just waved her off and kept his ear pressed to the door. Alice persisted though.

“Guys!” she said.

The others turned to shush her, but caught the sight of Triggs who was setting the paper down. Their eyes widened and they all turned to him, assured that they were done for. Emily hung her head, staring at her shoes in shame.

“Well, hello,” Triggs greeted casually.

The kids’ jaws dropped. Glancing to each other, they raised their eyebrows, hoping someone would have an answer. How could the professor be so calm about this? Any of the other’s would be enraged and immediately write them up.

“Beautiful night for a walk through the castle, unfortunately I’m stuck in here grading papers!” Triggs grinned. “I did it to myself of course by assigning the papers, but one must play the part one has taken on!” as he said this he picked up another paper from the stack on his right and began perusing it, writing comments in red ink with his raven feather quill pen. “Come in! Come in! It’s been so boring going through these, I started talking to myself! At least now I can have someone pretend to listen to my blatherings,” he grinned up at them.

The kids were shocked still, but finally jolted from their positions by the door and clumsily made their way over to the professor’s desk. They stopped before his desk, looking down at it awkwardly.

“Sit! Sit!” he ordered and the kids seemed to collapse into the chairs around Triggs’ desk.

They were comfortable chairs, plush with nice arm rests and supportive backs. There were at least half a dozen seats before Triggs’ desk set at casual positions. Most professors had maybe two seats in front of their desk, others had no chairs or really hard ones so that you wish you were standing. Triggs’ entire office seemed more like a common room than a professor’s office… well, aside from the array of weapons.

Triggs’ weapons case was the first thing Alice noticed upon approaching the desk. There were battle axes, broadswords, snapped wands, daggers, scimitars, spears, etc. Alice’s eyes glinted, reflecting the shine of the metal weapons.

“Those are my trophies,” Triggs explained upon seeing Alice’s look.

She looked up at him, embarrassed that he had caught her staring. He just grinned and ducked his head, raising a hand as if to ward off disputes or mockery.

“I know! I know, how pretentious and arrogant, to keep trophies of your battles on display. But I feel bad about locking them away, like I’m trying to hide my past. I’m proud of my achievements and would never want people to think I’m ashamed of them. Plus I like to look at them, they look pretty cool!”

Alice grinned and the others even started to loosen up a bit. They were all talking when the door burst open and Filch shuffled in, blustering.

“Students! Out of bed after hours!” He spat at the kids.

The kids began to sink in their chairs, prepared to be led out by Filch and written up. Triggs was very calm and casual. Spreading his hands out to encompass the kids before him, he addressed Filch.

“These students are out at my request. It’s just so boring grading papers that I needed some people to talk to, so I asked them to come to my office. I didn’t realize it was so late, but I assure you I will make sure these students find their way back to their dormitories when we’re done here,” Triggs told Filch politely.

Filch’s face reddened visibly as if struggling to contain an eruption of steam out his ears. His whole body grew rigid, feeling slighted by this young, new professor. Undermining Filch’s authority and covering for these little fiends, for Filch was sure that’s what Triggs was doing. However, Filch couldn’t say anything, he couldn’t undermine the authority of a professor, no matter how uppity and in need of a good blow to his ego he was.

“My apologies, Professor,” Filch grumbled stiffly. “Let’s go Mrs. Norris,” he called and the cat followed him out and he shut the door behind him, but not without casting a spiteful glare at the twins and Alice. They shot it right back.

It was a few moments after Filch’s departure before anyone spoke.

“Thanks, Professor! You really snatched us from the fire!” Lee proclaimed graciously.

“No problem, Mr. Jordan!” Triggs grinned.

“Oh, please, call me Lee, sir,” Lee requested. Triggs nodded.

“So what were you five doing out after hours?” Triggs asked, leaning forward over his desk. He peered intently at them, his papers lying forgotten on his desk.

“Um, we just lost track of time, and we were just on our way back to Gryffindor Tower when Mrs. Norris caught us!” Fred explained, grumbling the last part. He really hated that cat.

Triggs raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything. He knew the kids were doing something against the rules, but he didn’t have any proof, and they were good students. Well, the boys would be if they’d put in more effort.

“All right, don’t tell me what you were up to, but I’m afraid I will have to take a few points from Gryffindor. How about… hmm, ten? Or were you breaking some major rules?” he said.

Lee sighed and the twins just kind of shrugged. Alice quirked her head and pursed her lips. Only Emily seemed sincerely concerned with having lost points for Gryffindor.

“That sounds fair,” Alice admitted. Triggs nodded.

“Then it’s a deal, Miss Connen. Good woman to take responsibility without complaint, a lot like your mother,” Triggs added the last almost as an afterthought.

Alice straightened at the comment, immediately alert. The others seemed to straighten in their seats as well and lean forward.

“Wait, you knew my mom?” Alice asked.

“Oh, yes! We went to school together! I was two years older, but your mother knew practically everyone in school. Of course, she was a big Quidditch star, so there’s that,” Triggs recounted.

“Oh! Were you at the ’73 final game when they won the cup?” Lee asked excitedly. He sat forward in his seat, but the twins pushed him back into it.

“What was she like?” Alice asked, quieter than the others had ever heard her speak before. Triggs expression became a bit more somber, recognizing the genuine desire to know a mother the girl couldn’t remember.

“Well, from what I’ve seen of you so far, she was a lot like you. She was very smart, with a quick wit, and was always good for a laugh. She and Lily Evans were close friends and the favorites of every teacher. Nax was also naturally gifted at magic, getting difficult spells or potions in a matter of weeks where it would take others months,”

“Nax? I thought her name was Willamena?” Lee interrupted.

“Her name was Willamena, but she hated it. Her middle name was Anaxandra, so she took ‘nax’ from it and went by that,” Triggs explained.

“Willamena Anaxandra Ackers, did her parents hate her or something?” Alice asked, chuckling a bit. Triggs grinned.

“It’s Greek, supposedly they were interested in ancient Greece and mythology. When she wasn’t hanging out with Lily, or studying, she was at Quidditch practice. That’s where she got close to James Potter, the two were like brother and sister and worked well together on the field, knowing exactly where the other would be to pass the Quaffle. Of course, her worlds kind of merged with James chasing after Lily, and especially after they got married. She was in the wedding you know,” Triggs reminisced.

Alice was quiet for a long time. When she did speak it was hushed.

“Sounds more like my brother than me,” she stated simply.

Triggs gaze softened on her. She looked just like her mother, in physical appearance as well as the way they held themselves. Many of Alice’s expressions were identical to her mother’s, excepting her mischievous grin, that she must’ve gotten from her father. He knew her mother better than he was letting on. He and Nax had worked together, along with the Potters, and the others…

“You guys should really be getting to bed!” Triggs shook himself from the creeping nostalgia that always brought with it guilt, regret, and the pain of loss. Putting on a smile, he ushered them to the door. “Now, I saved you this time, but this won’t become a regular thing!” he called after the kids as they exited.

Closing the door behind them, Triggs trudged back towards his desk. He dropped into his seat and ran a hand down his face. Picking up a paper, he tried to focus on it, but he just couldn’t think about innovative ways to take down a goblin. Dropping the paper back onto his desk he leaned back in his chair, both hands coming up to cover his face. Dragging his hands down across his face he stared up at the ceiling, images of the past flooding his mind. Closing his eyes he fell back into memory—and too many of them were painful. 


	11. I Pull Away with the Lead in the Prank War... Oh, and Literally Everyone Here Knows More About my Parents than Me, That's Cool

Alice woke one morning to realize that somehow the time had flown by so that she had been at Hogwarts for two months. Halloween was tomorrow and the castle had been decorated for weeks. Jack-o-lanterns floated in the Great Hall alongside the candles, carved into an array of mythical creatures as well as the faces of some of the professors. Alice’s favorite was the one of Snape; if any of them were to scare little kids away it would be that one.

Flitwick fulfilled everyone’s dreams in the next Charms class as he announced they would begin learning to make things fly! Alice couldn’t wait and bounced in her seat as Flitwick put them into pairs and gave each pair a feather. Alice was paired with Liz, which was fine but she had been hoping to be partners with Emily who was, in all honesty, her best friend. This admission shocked Alice herself a bit as she had never expected to get along with, let alone befriend, the peppy little girl when they had first met.

Cormac McLaggen and his friend Robbie Sawyer were partners and sat next to Liz and Alice. Why Flitwick put them together Alice had no clue because after a few failed attempts, they quit doing what they were supposed to be doing and instead became nuisances. Cormac was currently tickling Robbie with the feather as Robbie jolted and squirmed in his seat trying to avoid him. He ended up bumping into Liz just as she was trying to cast the spell on her feather. This caused Liz’s wand to hit the feather, instantly lighting it aflame. The fire consumed the feather in a matter of seconds and left it a blackened skeleton on Alice and Liz’s desk.

The boys immediately stopped their wrestling and stared open-mouthed along with the girls at the burnt husk. Alice raised her hand, gaining Flitwick’s attention.

“Professor, we could use another feather,” she requested.

“What happened?” He asked in shock, coming up to inspect the ashes. He flicked his wand above the feather’s remains and they were swept up and directed by Flitwick’s wand into the bin.

“Ask them,” Liz glared at Cormac and Robbie.

Flitwick gave the boys a disapproving glance and clicked his tongue. With a flick of his wand, the feather Cormac was still holding was plucked from his hand and floated over to rest on the girls’ desk.

“If you two boys aren’t going to use your feather properly maybe these girls can get better use out of it!” Flitwick explained.

The girls cast the boys triumphant looks as the boys glowered and shrunk down into their seats. Robbie punched Cormac in the arm for getting them in trouble. Cormac returned the punch, seeing it as Robbie’s squirming that got them in trouble. This quickly escalated as the boys got into a scuffle at their desk. 

Alice and Liz rolled their eyes. Robbie hit his elbow on the desk and the battle was paused momentarily as he whimpered in pain. Once the throbbing ceased however, he dragged Cormac into a headlock. Alice sighed and flicked her wand at the boys’ stools. They wobbled and toppled over, depositing the boys in a heap of tangled limbs on the floor.

The rest of the class turned at the ‘thud’ while Alice and Liz focused on their work. Flitwick and the other students stared open-mouthed as Robbie popped back up into sight, holding up a hand.

“We’re good! All good! We’re fine!” he declared with a grin.

Cormac struggled up shortly after and cast a glare over at Liz and Alice. The girls didn’t even turn to look at them. Alice held out her hand, palm up under the desk and Liz slapped it.

“What was that, Connen?” Cormac demanded, pouncing on her after class. Alice never missed a step and pushed past him. He continued after her, practically tripping on her heels.

“What was what?” Alice tossed back over her shoulder carelessly.

“That thing you pulled in class!” Cormac blustered.

“Hmm, you gotta be more specific, I did a lot of stuff in class. For one thing, I actually participated in class and successfully made my feather fly!” Alice grinned.

“You mean my feather! Flitwick gave you ours because you’re a teacher’s pet!” Cormac whined.

Alice stopped so abruptly and turned to face Cormac that he nearly ran right over her.

“If actually doing what the teacher asks makes me a teacher’s pet than I would gladly rather be that than the pathetic, immature mess I see before me,” Alice stated matter-of-factly. The other students gasped.

“Oooh, burn!” Thomas laughed.

As soon as Alice finished speaking she turned back around and continued on her way, leaving Cormac staring after her in outraged shock. Alice grinned triumphantly as she heard the other students laugh appreciatively at her insult. In just two months Cormac had already proven to everyone that he and his friends were a group of immature, pretentious brutes that enjoyed picking on those smaller than them and instructing everyone on the proper way to do everything.

Passing Emily, who was walking with Katie and Leanne, Alice waved to her but didn’t join the girls. She had to go put the finishing touches on a surprise for Fred and George. After that they were going to go exploring with the Marauder’s Map some more. They had found all the secret passageways on the map but hadn’t yet had the opportunity to explore a few of them because the boys had been really busy with Quidditch practice. With all the practicing the team was doing, Alice thought they had better win this year!

The twins had History of Magic for another hour, so Alice had time to head up to her dormitory to grab some last minute things. Fumbling through her trunk, she finally found her air horn on the bottom along with a bag of balloons and her box of bang snaps. She then tracked down some black paper, duct tape, a cardboard box, and clear nail polish, the latter she had to borrow from Emily. 

By the time she left, it looked like a tornado had torn through the place, but Alice had what she needed from her room. Going down the stairs proved treacherous as she could hardly see over her pile of things. She safely made it down though and continued to the History of Magic classroom.

Finishing there, she went to the bathrooms, pausing at the boy’s bathroom door before sneaking in. Luckily no one was in there and Alice went ahead and planted her trap in every toilet just to be safe. She then headed down to the kitchens which Fred and George had showed to her a few weeks into the school year. Ever since they had been sneaking down there for after-hours snacks provided by the house-elves. Here she was flooded with aid and managed to have her pranks prepared in half the time she expected.

Alice made her way back to the History of Magic class, her arms now empty, and took up a spot against the wall opposite of the door to the classroom. After just a few minutes of waiting, she heard shuffling emanate from the classroom as the students gathered up their things. Plugging her fingers into her ears, Alice waited for the door to swing open. It burst open and students raced out, but stopped immediately upon a blaring horn bouncing off the walls. Covering their ears the students continued on their way. Fred and George were two of the last out and grinned at Alice’s disappointed face.

“You should’ve known we wouldn’t be the first ones out!” Fred mocked.

“Maybe next time, kid!” George teased, mussing her hair.

Alice swatted his hand away.

“It was worth a shot,” she grumbled and pulled a red foil-wrapped candy out of her pocket. 

Unwrapping it she popped the chocolate into her mouth. The twins’ eyes had been caught by the candy and they held out their hands expectantly.

“What? I’m not gonna give you my chocolate!” Alice scoffed.

The twins’ eyes seemed to grow and glitter like the eyes of sad puppies. Alice checked a smirk and, sighing dramatically, grabbed the other two candies out of her pocket. The boys didn’t seem to notice that these candies were wrapped in blue-foil. They tore the foil off and popped the chocolate squares into their mouths.

The group continued down the corridor, heading for the stairs. The twins were laughing and joking, until they both slowed their steps. Their faces grimaced and scrunched up in discomfort. Clutching at their stomachs they looked at each other before glaring at Alice. They were _conveniently_ right by the bathrooms and both boys took off. They barreled towards the boy’s bathroom door and disappeared inside.

Alice took up a position by the window outside the bathroom doors.

“One, two, three…” she counted aloud and was interrupted by a girl’s scream.

The boys raced back outside the door and into the other one, never noticing Alice’s grin.

“Five, four, three, two, one,” she pointed at the door as she ended her countdown and heard a cacophony of bangs and snaps, accompanied by shouts of surprise. Laughing out loud, Alice clutched at her abdomen and sat on the window sill to catch her breath.

It was several minutes before the twins emerged. Their faces red and glowering.

“All good?” Alice asked casually. Two identical glares were her response.

“I have welts from _something_ exploding under the toilet seats!” Fred glared.

“And for some reason the soap wouldn’t lather,” George directed angrily at Alice.

“Really? That’s strange? Filch must’ve gotten a new kind,” she smiled innocently.

“You’re a bloody little devil,” Fred declared. Alice simply grinned.

The group began to continue on but Alice halted and raced back to the History of Magic classroom. She returned to where the twins were waiting for her, carrying the air horn with duct tape still stuck to the bottom.

“Almost forgot my decoy!” Alice laughed, blaring the horn in Fred’s ear. 

He swatted her away as she laughed. The twins turned away and walked down the corridor ahead of her.

“Come on guys! You’ve got to admit that was pretty fantastic! And Muggle tricks to boot!” Alice sang as she chased after them.

She and the twins spent a few hours exploring a secret passageway on the Marauder’s Map, but they made sure to be back before dark as it was Alicia’s birthday and everyone was celebrating in the Gryffindor Common Room after dinner. Alice briefly met up with Emily again for dinner. Here she confirmed a few details with Emily and the girls made a quick detour to the kitchens before returning to the Common Room.

The Common Room was a flurry of noise and activity. It seemed everyone had come out to celebrate with Alicia even though she was only a second year and half of the Gryffindors didn’t know her personally. But hey, it was a party, and they were told there would be cake!

Alice and Emily entered with a tray of caramel apples and were thus welcomed warmly by everyone. Passing out caramel apples, the girls gradually made their way over to their friends. Fred and George glanced disconsolately at the board tracking the points in the Prank War. Alice had gained a considerable lead after her stunt earlier that afternoon. Nevertheless the twins grinned and welcomed her and Emily and certainly helped themselves to some caramel apples, which Emily handed to them.

“Happy Birthday, Alicia!” Alice greeted the girl warmly.

Suddenly the twins started spluttering and coughing. They had both taken huge bites out of their caramel apples, which had fallen to the floor. Picking them up before the caramel stuck to the floor, Alice set them back on the tray. The bite marks revealed a layered inside: they were caramel-covered onions.

“What? You don’t like ‘em? I had the house elves make those two special for you guys!” Alice grinned as the kids around them burst into laughter.

Lee chuckled as he added three more points to Alice’s score.

A commotion broke out in the center of the room and made its way over to Alicia. All the students broke out singing ‘For She’s a Jolly Good Fellow’ as Angelina carried a cake over to Alicia. She set it down on the coffee table in front of Alicia and after the song finished, Alicia blew out the candles. Everyone cheered and Angelina took up the knife to cut the cake.

“Whoa! Wait a minute! May I do the honors?” Fred asked.

Angelina shrugged and handed the knife over to Fred. Fred missed the smirk Angelina, Alicia, and Alice exchanged, but George caught it.

“No! Don’t!” He shouted and leapt for Fred, but he was too late.

Fred stabbed into the cake.

A loud popping echoed through the Common Room, causing everyone to jump, followed by a splatter as the cake exploded onto Fred and George. The room erupted into laughter as the twins wiped whip cream from their faces. Looking down at the cake, they found just half of a cardboard box with the broken remains of a balloon and a mess of whipped cream.

Everyone was high-fiving Alice. The twins turned to look over at her and the room grew quiet. Alice drew herself up proudly, in preparation for their outburst. The twins looked at her in silence a moment, then turned to look at each other, whipped cream streaked down their faces and covering their fronts and in their hair… and burst out laughing.

The room joined them, and it was Fred who went over and added ten points to Alice’s score. 

“Okay! Now, here’s the real cake!” Lee called out to the crowd, pulling a box from behind his seat.

The party lasted well into the night, or would it be considered morning by that point? Alice was too tired to think about it as she flopped into her bed. It seemed she had just hit the pillow when Emily was once more waking her up, with a bright smile to rival the rising sun. Alice shielded her eyes from the glare, from which source she wasn’t quite sure.

Alice, as well as the majority of Gryffindor House, looked like a zombie. The extent of her speech for the first several hours of wakefulness was grunts and groans. Emily meanwhile was her usual chipper self despite getting less than six hours of sleep, which Alice considered the minimum to be able to function. Alice herself preferred to be safe and get at least eight hours. 

Alice held her head in her hands over her bowl of oatmeal at breakfast as Emily chattered on. She didn’t seem to care that half her audience was dead to the world.

“Wasn’t that so much fun last night? I met so many new people, well I had seen them around of course, but I hadn’t actually met them, well, until last night that is! Everyone in Gryffindor must’ve been there! Oh! Do you remember when Fred and George smashed Percy’s face into his cake! That was so funny! Although Percy did seem quite peeved about it, I think the twins should probably apologize, I mean he is their brother,” Emily rambled as she took delicate bites out of an apple.

Alice hadn’t quite gathered enough energy to utilize her full vocabulary, otherwise she would’ve quickly disabused Emily of her last misguided notion. Emily was so optimistic and nice, she probably never got mad at anyone! She clearly didn’t understand the dynamic of the Weasley brothers. Percy was a stiff-necked do-gooder who couldn’t stand his younger brothers’ tricks and pranks which he considered juvenile, while the twins loved tormenting Percy and honestly probably saw it as their way of showing affection to their older brother. They would never apologize and Percy probably wouldn’t believe them if they did.

Alice trudged along behind Emily to classes. Alice was lucky she sat with Emily in all of her classes, as Emily would nudge her awake every time a professor looked over at them or came near their desk. Other students weren’t so lucky and the teachers quickly connected the dots and watched for nodding heads and listened for snores. These unfortunate snoozers were quickly called out. 

Professor McGonagall actually lectured their class for the majority of the time. She said she was so disappointed and ashamed to be head of a house that would be so careless about their studies. She ended up taking away the most points of any of the other professors. If Gryffindor had gathered any sort of lead they lost all of it that day. The Gryffindor hourglass lost so many rubies so fast that a few of the other houses thought someone was messing with it illegally. How could a house lose so many points in one day?

By lunch time, Alice was fighting a nasty headache. Unfortunately for her throbbing head, every other student was animated and loud, excited that today was Halloween. Going through the corridors was like torture with all the laughter and shouting and high-pitched voices of children. Alice decided, in that moment, that an apocalypse, right then and there, would be preferable to ever having to hear another human voice again.

Emily didn’t seem to have gotten the memo, as she prattled on ceaselessly all throughout lunch. Alice managed to force some food down and this seemed to mildly satisfy the little man that was hammering on her skull as his strikes grew lighter and more infrequent. Alice spent the rest of lunch with her head resting on the table, her arms blocking all light from reaching her eyes. This seemed to help so that she didn’t want to strangle Emily on the way to Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Normally Alice would be excited going to DADA; Professor Triggs was by far the coolest and most interesting teacher. He always had fun things planned for all his classes. But Alice just wasn’t feeling doing work today. She just wanted to curl into her sock drawer and sleep for days.

“Hellooo ladies and gentlemen!” Triggs’ voice blared throughout the classroom like at a wrestling tournament. 

Alice’s head shot up off the desk, her ears ringing, and looked around wildly. She saw that practically every other student was doing the same, and directed her attention to Prof. Triggs who was at the top of the stairs at the back of the class that led up to his office on the third floor. He had his wand pressed against his neck, which apparently had caused his voice to sound like it was coming through a microphone. Triggs appeared startled by his students’ reactions and quickly pulled his wand away. 

Hopping two steps at a time, he was on the classroom floor in two seconds and swept up to the front of the room.

“Gosh! What’s up with you all? You look like Inferi,” he chuckled.

When no one laughed at his little joke he coughed, clearing his throat.

“Well! Look alive boys and girls! ‘Cause we’ve got an exciting day planned!” Triggs exclaimed.

Groans echoed throughout the room.

“Professor, can we just get the day off? Can this just be like nap class?” Thomas mumbled from the back as his eyelids drooped and his head drifted into his hand.

“What? No! What do you kids need sleep for? I haven’t slept in days and I’m perfectly fine!” Triggs rattled on, his hand dramatically shook and he made a show of grabbing it with his other hand to stop it. His grin faltered as no one even noticed his joke. “Seriously? What is wrong with you guys?” he asked seriously, his hands slapping onto his desk and his upper body leaning over it.

“Alicia’s party… really late… exploding cake…” Katie Bell’s sentence faded in and out as she tried to stay awake but gradually got closer and closer to leaning against Leanne. A tired chuckle fluttered through the room as the students remembered Alice’s prank.

“Oh, yeah… that was funny…” Robbie murmured, a sleepy grin across his face.

Triggs stared around the classroom as the students gradually fell asleep. Well, except for Emily, Leanne, and Geoffrey Taylor who were glancing between their sleeping friends and back up at the professor. They shrugged but didn’t have any solutions for Professor Triggs.

Suddenly, Triggs leapt off like a fire had been lit under him. He raced behind the staircase and the students that were awake could hear clatters and thuds. He reappeared carrying a medium sized cage with a black cloth over it. Setting it noisily down on the first student’s desk, he looked around to the three students that were awake. He held a finger up to his lips, telling them to stay quiet as he grabbed hold of the black cloth.

Ripping the black cloth off of the cage, a piercing laugh cut through the air. Every head raised to look at the creature within the cage. It looked like a little elf-type creature and it continued to laugh. All the students were drawn to the strange laugh and every student leaned in their seats towards the creature, their eyes transfixed. 

Just before the first kid got up to head for the cage, Triggs replaced the cloth over the cage, cutting off the laugh and turning it into a wail of disappointment. The kids immediately shook their heads as if waking from a dream. Triggs whisked the cage off to the back of the room and, opening a door beneath the staircase, he tossed the cage inside and slammed the door, effectively blocking out any further sounds from the creature.

Turning back to the kids, who were all blinking and looking around in confusion, Triggs strutted back to stand before his desk.

“Now that I’ve got your attention! I have a special treat for you all today!” Triggs announced and whipped a cloth off of a standing bird cage.

Alice now felt fully awake somehow and glanced at the cage before focusing on the professor. She raised her hand, her eyebrow quirked in confusion.

“Professor? What was that thing you tossed in the closet?” Alice asked.

“That, Miss Connen, was an Erkling! Little elf-like creatures native to Germany. Quite rare, they’re actually protected! Strange seeing as how they eat children, but that’s the ministry for you!” Triggs explained, clapping his hands together.

“It eats children?” Thomas repeated, shocked and fearful.

“What did it do to us?” Alice asked curiously.

“It _eats_ _children_?!” Thomas raised his voice this time.

“Yes, Mister Ward, it eats children, and its laugh, which woke you all up, is particularly entrancing to children so as to lead you to them to devour you!” Triggs grinned.

Thomas was still in shock that the creatures ate children and that Professor Triggs just had one lying around the classroom where he taught children! Alice and most of the class had already moved on though, and now directed their attention to the cage, where they saw movement. A furry creature that looked a lot like a ferret but bigger rose up into view.

“Eh, what are you all looking at?” the ferret-thing grumbled.

The kids gasped. Triggs laughed and poked some food through the cage bars. The ferret-thing quickly snatched it up and started chewing on it.

“This is a jarvey! As you have observed, it looks like an overgrown ferret, and yes, it can talk. Although the majority of its vocabulary is insults and rude phrases,” Triggs explained.

“Nasty buggers! And I thought gnomes were ugly!” the jarvey said.

The students laughed. Sure it was insulting them, but it was a ferret that only spoke in insults! Alice desperately wanted to know where she could get one.

“Hey, Chuckles! Can it will ya!” the jarvey squeaked irritably at Cole.

This threw the children into further fits of laughter as the jarvey spouted off rude phrases. Triggs sprayed the jarvey with a spray bottle at this, cautioning the creature to keep it clean. This simply caused the jarvey to turn its insults onto Triggs, much to the students’ mirth.

After a few minutes of entertainment from the jarvey, Triggs re-covered the cage and taught the kids a few spells to use on the jarvey. One was supposed to silence the jarvey, making any words he tried to speak come out as a squeak. Unfortunately, when Triggs removed the cloth and had Cormac try out this spell, it just made the jarvey louder and its insults blared so loudly they swore the walls shook.

Instead of remedying the situation immediately, Triggs set the kids to try to shut the jarvey up in other ways. Giving no clear instructions, he left them to try anything to silence the jarvey. A few kids tried the spell Triggs had taught, but it only worked for a few seconds before fading and returning the jarvey’s voice to extreme levels. Finally Alice couldn’t take it anymore.

“Shut up, furrball!” she snapped at the jarvey. It halted its insulting of Leanne and turned to look at Alice.

“Oh yeah? And what’ll you do about it, hag?” the jarvey squeaked. Alice laughed, it just sounded so adorable that the indignant and insulting tone just couldn’t compete. The jarvey looked injured by her laughter. 

“Hey! What’re you doing? Stop it!”

Alice just laughed harder and the jarvey spun around in its cage and started frantically spitting out insults and rude phrases. It’s voice cracked and the jarvey coughed.

“Hey, look! The furrball’s got a furrball! Hack it up and maybe your voice won’t break like a boy going through puberty!” Alice grinned. The other girls and Triggs roared with laughter while the boys looked almost as insulted as the jarvey did.

It didn’t have a response to this and sat there looking frustrated as it spluttered and made indignant squeaks. It finally gave up and curled up into a ball, turning its head away from the students. Triggs applauded Alice.

“Excellent work, Miss Connen! When magic fails, turn to simpler means and just throw words at it! Clever, successful, and entertaining!” he congratulated.

Alice rolled her eyes, but couldn’t hide her pleased grin. 

Triggs spent the rest of the class helping the kids get the silencing spell down, and then told them about other, more dangerous creatures that this would prove a valuable defense against. 

“Banshees for example! Or, if Mister Ward is still concerned about them, it would also work on erklings,” Triggs grinned.

Thomas rolled his eyes but laughed with the rest of the kids.

As always, class seemed to end too soon but everyone left grinning and wide awake. Alice gathered up her books and headed off after Emily, but was held back.

“Miss Connen?” Triggs called.

Alice turned and approached Professor Triggs. He had an unusually solemn expression on his face, but tried to hide it with a strained smile.

“Could I see you in my office at three o’clock this afternoon?” he said it as a question, but when a teacher asked for a student to meet them in their office, it wasn’t a request.

“Uh, sure, professor,” Alice replied. Triggs smiled and shooed her away as he prepared for his next class.

Emily had waited outside the classroom for Alice and the two joined up and headed down the corridor. Alice had a concerned expression on her face, which Emily immediately picked up on. She nudged Alice with her elbow.

“What was that about?” Emily asked.

“He wants to see me in his office,” Alice answered. “Do you think I’m in trouble? Did I do something wrong in class? What if my homework was so bad he thinks I’m not cut out for the class?” Alice rambled worriedly.

Emily slapped Alice on the arm. Alice clutched at her arm as it stung painfully. She gasped at Emily, but then realized that Emily had shaken her from a downward spiral of nonsensical worries. She nodded.

“Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it! I’m sure it’s nothing, maybe it’s something good! Like, that you’re so good in class you get to skip the exam or something!” Emily chirped.

“Now you’re getting my hopes up,” Alice laughed, though the thought was ridiculous.

* * *

Alice stopped before the door to Professor Triggs’ office and drew in a deep breath. She had never been called to a teacher’s office before. Having no idea what to expect, Alice had been practicing acting meek just in case it was something bad and she needed to appear contrite. Releasing her breath, Alice gathered up her nerve and knocked firmly on the door. 

Well, she had intended to knock firmly, it ended up being really faint and hesitant sounding and she briefly wondered if he could even hear it. She was just raising her hand to knock again when the door opened. She hastily dropped her hand in embarrassment and grinned up at the professor.

“Ah! Alice! Yes, come in, come in!” Triggs seemed distracted and hardly looked at her.

Alice dropped her smile and quirked her lips suspiciously as he stepped out of the way for her to enter the office. Once she was inside he shut the door and returned to his seat behind his desk. Alice couldn’t help but notice that he was more fidgety than normal. Triggs seemed to notice it too as he looked at his fingers drumming nervously on the desk and quickly withdrew his hand from his desk.

“Well, um, thank you for coming to meet with me… I, um, wanted to—“

“Am I in trouble?” Alice broached the subject, seeing as how Triggs was having difficulty facing it.

Triggs’ brows shot towards his hairline, his eyes wide, and mouth gaped open a bit in surprise.

“Good heavens! No! Nothing of the sort! You’re one of my best students!” Triggs exclaimed.

“Okay, then why am I here?” Alice asked simply.

While Triggs kept trying to avoid eye contact, Alice was intent on establishing it. She figured that if she could just grab his gaze for a second he would finally get to the point. She proved successful, as Triggs glanced over at her and caught her eye for a split second. In that split second he seemed to shrink and age several years. Alice leaned forward a bit in her chair.

Triggs rubbed at his temples before dragging his hand down his face. He sighed and turned to look at Alice. But it didn’t seem he was really seeing her. Suddenly he sat forward in his chair and leaned his elbows on the desk.

“I went to school with your mother, years ago!” he began.

“You told me that already,” Alice stated.

“Yes, I know, but I didn’t tell you the whole story. Nax, your mother, was two years younger than me and I was in Ravenclaw.”

Alice’s eyes widened at this. She was surprised to learn that Triggs had been in Ravenclaw. She had just always assumed he had been in Gryffindor because, well, because he was fun and brave! A voice in her head, which sounded suspiciously like Jason, nagged at her for stereotyping. Her brother was in Ravenclaw and although he was generally a pain and a nag, all of her best memories were doing fun stuff with him, and he was certainly brave, I mean, he wasn’t even afraid of flying!

“I actually played on the Quidditch team, I was the Keeper and I hated your mother. Here comes this tiny, second-year girl that just blows past the defenders and then tricks me with a fake and scores on me in her first ever game! I felt slighted and we kind of started a bit of a rivalry between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, where it’s usually Gryffindor and Slytherin. Anyway, it wasn’t until my seventh year, her fifth, that we made a truce and actually became friends. As I told you before, she was close with Lily Evans and James Potter before the two ever started dating. When they did start dating, the two groups united and she and Sirius became particularly close,” Triggs’ face was shadowed with memories and when he looked at Alice, he wasn’t really looking at her. Maybe he was seeing her mom, Alice had been told she looked just like her.

“Remember when I told you, in the first Defense Against the Arts class, about the Dark Lord and Harry Potter?” Triggs asked. Alice nodded

“Well, the Dark Lord was around when your mother and I were in school. He was gaining in power, and gathering followers called Death Eaters. Those were dark times, it was common for people to go missing, Muggles being killed, dark creatures coming out of hiding and causing trouble. He was forming an army, trying to start a war. 

“So, what happens when one side rises up to threaten the system, others rise up to stop them. That’s what happened, this society was formed, an order, and that’s what we did, we fought the growing dark forces. I joined immediately after graduating and that’s when things started getting really bad so that by the time your mother and her friends graduated we needed all the help we could get and they joined too. It wasn’t even a question for them, regardless of the risk they knew what would happen if people did nothing.”

Goosebumps were forming on Alice’s skin and she absentmindedly rubbed her arms to get rid of them.

“I fought alongside your mother for a few years before she returned to the U.S. Dark forces were gathering there too, and your mother went to help. She had been seeing your father for some time by that point, but it wasn’t until she returned that they got engaged. When we got that news we knew we probably wouldn’t see her again. She was starting a family, who would go to another country to risk their life when they had a family to protect and care for? She sent us pictures and letters, I remember the one she sent when you and your brother were born,” Triggs smiled at Alice.

“Dumbledore told her that your names had appeared in the book, and he couldn’t wait until you two came to Hogwarts.”

“Dumbledore knew my mom?” Alice interrupted.

“He was headmaster when she was at school, and he was also involved in the Order that was fighting the Death Eaters. He knew your mother very well.”

“Okay, you’re telling me that my parents knew I was magic and that I’d come here, and you say that she had all these really close friends, but my dad never talked about any of them! Where were they when my mom disappeared? Where were they when we were orphaned?” Alice demanded angrily.

“I’m getting to that,” Triggs replied sadly.

He stared down at his fingers and fiddled with a ring. He sighed and looked up to the ceiling where Alice swore she saw tears in his eyes. When he looked back at her though, they were gone and his eyes were cold and dry.

“Lily and James married, and they had a little boy, a year after you and your brother were born. Sirius was named godfather, and your mother godmother. The boy’s name was Harry, Harry Potter. We got word that the Dark Lord was after Harry. Dumbledore knew why, but he didn’t tell us then, he never told us! I had to investigate on my own to find out about a prophecy the Dark Lord thought foretold of Harry defeating him. Anyway, the order worked on trying to protect the Potters. We couldn’t tell Nax about any of it for fear of our communication getting intercepted. She was in the dark while her best friends were facing their worst nightmare.

“We hid the Potters from the Dark Lord, but they were betrayed by… by one of our own. The Dark Lord found them and he… he killed James and Lily, and tried to kill Harry, but I told you that part. Anyway,” Triggs waved the thought away.

“At this point, Nax had been keeping up with us through the news, and she saw about her friends. She came back immediately. She was godmother of Harry and if Sirius couldn’t take him she was prepared to take him back to raise him with her family. Sirius went crazy and went after another of our members, one of his old friends Peter, but Nax went after Sirius to try to stop him. After that… I don’t know what happened, but your mother disappeared. She could’ve been injured in the blast that killed Peter, or another of its casualties, but we didn’t find anything… or she could’ve escaped the blast and then gotten picked up by Death Eaters, I honestly don’t know, and that’s almost worse,” Triggs hung his head.

“Yeah, I know,” Alice grumbled.

Triggs looked up at her, the tears in his eyes visible now. He started to reach across the table to her, but thought better of it. Alice glared at her shoes, fighting back a lump in her throat.

“You talk about it being hard not knowing, but you knew more than I ever did! I didn’t even know about magic until this year and that was a major part of both my parents’ lives! And I thought it was all awesome pranks and making things fly but now I get why my father gave it up. He wanted to shield us from just another source of pain,” Alice ranted angrily.

“Alice,” Triggs began. He hadn’t meant to hurt her, that had never been his intent, he just thought she should know all that he did. It was her mother after all, and Triggs suspected too much had been kept from this girl and her brother.

Alice wasn’t willing to be comforted though and stood up.

“Thanks for telling me the truth,” she muttered as she stalked out of the room.

Triggs could only stare after her until the door slammed shut.

Alice was angry. Not at Triggs. At least he had told her what he knew. He didn’t hide the truth, he laid it all out there. No, she was mad at everyone else. At her dad from hiding this whole other world her whole life. At her extended family for going along with it. At Dumbledore for knowing all along and never trying to intervene or explain once she got here. I mean, he was the headmaster, shouldn’t he have been the one to tell her about her mom instead of Triggs? 

But she was especially mad at her mom.

For having such a great life, for being so brave and loyal, for disappearing, causing all of it to be hidden from her children. Her mom was the reason Alice and Jason had been denied a part of themselves. Her disappearance crushed Alice’s dad and denied this world of wonders, dangers too, but the wonders were weightier in Alice’s mind, from her children.

Alice wasn’t paying any attention to where she was going. She could hear people milling around and vaguely thought she heard someone calling at her, but she ignored everything. Her eyes glued to the floor, Alice stalked throughout the castle.

She finally came to a stop, finding herself in an empty classroom she had never been in before. It was dark in the classroom, there weren’t any candles lit and the sun was setting outside the windows. Alice didn’t even bother with the light spell she had learned from Lee, Fred, and George.

The room was completely empty aside from a large mirror at one end of the room. Alice just sat on the floor, curling her legs up in front of her chest and hugging them close to her. Resting her chin on her knees, Alice just sat there and went over everything Triggs had told her.

Her mom had fought against the Dark Lord and his Death Eaters. Alice was upset, but that didn’t stop her from appreciating the coolness of the name: Death Eaters; that was so awesome! Her mom had been a regular action movie hero, fighting to save the world from evil alongside her friends.

Had certain things been different, Alice may have grown up with the boy Harry Potter, with him as another brother. She had to admit she liked the idea. Maybe he would’ve been more athletic and troublesome like her; that would’ve been fun!

She could’ve grown up with magic. She wouldn’t have to be playing catch up, trying to learn spells the other kids had learned years ago from their parents. She could’ve gone to that legendary Quidditch game her uncle was in! Wouldn’t that have been fun to rub in Lee’s, Fred’s, and George’s faces! She would actually know first-hand how awesome her family was in the Wizarding World instead of having to learn it all from random people.

But then, magic would have been commonplace. It would seem normal, every-day as opposed to wondrous and exciting, like it was now. She wouldn’t be awestruck by magical creatures, or making things fly, if she had grown up with it. Growing up as a Muggle, she could appreciate the wonder of the Wizarding World. She guessed she should be grateful for that at least.

A few tears trickled out, and Alice decided this was enough wallowing in a ball on the floor. She got up and paced about the room. She screamed out loud, just to let out all the frustration she felt from this whole thing! Her voice echoed eerily and she looked around nervously.

Halting, Alice could’ve sworn she saw movement at the other end of the room. She crept nearer, making her footsteps ghostly quiet. There was nothing on the other side of the room but the mirror. Maybe there was someone else in here and they were hiding behind the mirror!

Alice went up to and looked behind the mirror, but there was nothing but cobwebs back there. Going back around to the mirror, Alice inspected it a bit more, purely out of curiosity.

Walking up to the mirror, she peered into it. Alice watched her reflection as she walked towards the center of the mirror. She stopped and inspected the frame which was beautiful and extravagant. Words were carved into the top: Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on woshi.

Alice stood transfixed as she read the inscription. She reached out a hand and ran her fingers down the side of the mirror. She slowly brought her gaze back to her reflection but jumped back. She had been standing right there, alone, by herself and the mirror had been reflecting that, but now it showed four people. Alice looked over her shoulder.

No one was there. She then turned back to the mirror and inspected the reflection. She was there, but so was her brother and her father, and... 

"Mom," she whispered recognizing the woman in the mirror from the old photos, and because the woman looked just like Alice. 

Her mother smiled back at her, they were all smiling. Then more people stepped into the mirror from the sides. It was her aunt, uncle and cousin. Her mom and her aunt hugged then her mom hugged Uncle Alex. Everyone retreated further into the mirror a bit and started talking animatedly, like before her dad and uncle died, only it was still a broken family then. Now it was whole. Another kid joined the picture. The reflection Alice ruffled his hair as he came to stand next to her and her mom kissed the top of his head before wrapping him up in a hug. 

"A little brother," Alice whispered to herself. 

"Hello, Alice." 

 Alice jumped three feet into the air and wheeled around. There sat the headmaster. "Oh, I'm sorry headmaster, I'm not supposed to be here," Alice said hastily. 

"Oh, no, you're fine. The Mirror of Erised is not off-limits, although I would advise you against visiting it again," the aged headmaster replied in that gentle, kindly voice of his.

Alice was about to ask why but staring at the picture of the happy, complete family, she answered herself. "Because it shows what could have been.” Her hand reached out to touch the surface of the glass.

"No," Dumbledore stated. 

Alice turned and raised her eyebrows. The headmaster chuckled softly and continued.

"The Mirror of Erised does not show the future or what could have been had circumstances differed, it shows only the deepest desires of you heart." He explained. 

Alice turned back to the mirror. The picture was perfect, her heart ached as she watched it. Part of her wished she could stare at it forever since she’d never have it in real life.

"It's a trap," she said quietly, mostly to herself. "A trap for everyone. Especially the ones that have lost something. The mirror taunts your heart by showing it what it wants but your brain knows that it can never be. So people waste their time staring into the mirror at what they desire most and forget to actually live," Alice said.

"Exactly," Dumbledore said, nodding and smiling. "You are a wise young girl," he said.

"No," Alice replied. "I mean," she said turning to the headmaster. "My brother, Jason, he's the smart one, not me,” she explained.

"Wisdom is different from intelligence. The smartest people are not necessarily wise."

"What's the difference?" Alice asked.

"It's not one that I can explain to you." Dumbledore smiled. 

He stood up and left the room. Alice stood there staring after him. She had forgotten that she was mad at him too for keeping things from her. That is, until he left, but she found she couldn’t hold on to the anger. He was a strange old man, no doubt about it. But Alice liked him.

She turned once more to look at the Mirror of Erised. Her mother smiled warmly at her, but there was a hint of sadness in her eyes. Alice reached out to the mirror once more, resting her hand against the glass. Her mother raised her hand to place it where Alice’s hand rested. Alice’s lips tightened and after just one last moment, she turned away and exited the room. She never looked back and would never come back to this room except when Fred and George later came to investigate, but even then Alice never left the doorway.

She realized as she was walking back to the Great Hall, her growling stomach told her it was nearly dinner time, that Dumbledore had been in that room for his own reason. Did he go just to stare into the mirror at his deepest desire? She wondered what he saw, what image drew him to stare into the mirror. She did feel a twinge of sympathy for the headmaster, as it seemed very likely that he went to the mirror regularly. Alice shook her head.

It did not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.


	12. The Great Vampire-Italian Wars of 1572: An Analysis of the Weaponization of Garlic

Alice hadn’t really noticed how different the weather was over here from back in the States, well aside from sunshine being a rarity. She noticed the difference now.

It seemed that the weather had changed overnight so that they woke to a steely gray landscape. Frost covered the ground each morning and the lake was still and dark gray. Alice had never experienced a real winter before. She had grown up in the Sunshine State of Florida where winter was chilly but snow was an event of apocalyptic proportions. She got the feeling that snow was a promise over here and she wasn’t quite sure how she felt about that yet.

November ushered in winter, and with it, the Quidditch season. Fred and George were practically M.I.A. during the week leading up to their first game what with Wood calling early morning practice, before lunch practice, afternoon practice, evening practice, and last minute practice. Whenever Alice did see the twins, they were grumbling about Wood.

“Well, this is his first year as captain and he wants to win,” Alicia explained gently.

“We’d better win!” George exclaimed.

“You will, I mean what with all this practicing, it’s practically assured.” Alice stated.

“I don’t know, I think we’ve over-practiced! I mean, my arm is so sore I don’t know if I can pick up a bat!” Fred retorted.

“Not to mention my rear’s numb,” George grumbled.

“Well, go stand in front of the fireplace to thaw it out,” Alice ordered.

“Just ice your arm tonight and it’ll be fine in the morning,” Angelina told Fred.

“It better be! If you guys lose this game for us I will disown you!” Lee announced.

The twins shoved him onto the couch for the comment. George went over to light the fireplace but Alice intercepted.

“Allow me! I’ve been working on a new spell!” Alice grinned.

George retreated backwards and everyone else took a few steps backwards just to be safe. Alice was talented and no one doubted she could cast the spell, but her spells tended to be quite… flamboyant. All remembered the time she cast a slug-vomiting charm on a Slytherin and the slugs practically exploded from his mouth in a tide of slime. The boy and his friends weren’t the only ones who had trouble keeping down their lunch after that display. Lee Jordan had looked particularly green and hurriedly looked away.

“Incendio!” Alice exclaimed and flicked her wand at the fireplace, not seeing the twins duck down behind the couch at the last minute.

Flames burst amidst the logs, cracking one with a loud snap! But it wasn’t just logs in the fireplace. Fireworks shot out of the fireplace and crackled and exploded all around the kids. The fireworks were not simple Muggle ones either, and thus danced around Alice, sparking just inches from her nose and then flying around her in a whirl of color and sparks. They shot above her head and coalesced into a two-headed lion that roared and burst into sparkles and embers that drifted down onto Alice.

Alice rolled her eyes and slowly turned around to face the twins. They poked their heads up above the couch and laughed as sparkles fell into Alice’s hair. She glared at them, an eyebrow quirked.

“Real mature,” she grumbled.

“You’ve got… um, sparkles… in your hair,” Lee tried not to laugh as Alice was glittering and sparkling like a disco ball.

She shook her hair out, sending a cloud of sparkles out into the air, but half of them just fell back onto her, onto her clothes, back in her hair. Everyone burst out laughing and Alice had to join them upon catching a glimpse of herself in a mirror. The twins were working on shaving down her lead in the prank war.

Alice was still finding sparkles on her the next day. In Transfiguration, Emily noticed some in Alice’s hair. Alice promptly shook her hair out, causing sparkles to rain down onto their desk, covering it.

“What happened here, girls?” McGonagall asked in confusion upon coming over to their desk to find it sparkling and glittering like fairies had been fighting on it.

“It’s from me, I got doused with sparkles and glitter by the Weasley twins last night and I’m still finding it everywhere!” Alice complained.

“Personally, I think the sparkles are an improvement to the desk! It’s so pretty now!” Emily giggled.

Alice and McGonagall stared at her like she was crazy. Emily didn’t notice.

“Yes,” McGonagall muttered, an eyebrow quirked. “But it will distract from your work,” she said and with a swish of her wand the sparkles vanished from the desk.

Emily’s bottom lip stuck out a bit in a little pout while Alice’s eyes brightened. 

“Can you do that to the glitter on me?” She asked McGonagall excitedly.

“I’m afraid not Miss Connen, I don’t know where it all is,” McGonagall replied.

Alice’s face dropped as McGonagall continued to the next desk. Emily nudged Alice.

“Oh come on, it’s fine,” Emily assured Alice. “It’ll all come off eventually, trust me, I am no stranger to glitter and sparkles! Could you help me with this transfiguration? I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.”

The students were supposed to be trying to turn a snuff box into a mug. Alice had gotten it a few minutes ago, the first, and so far only, in the class to do so. She turned to Emily and watched as she cast the spell. The snuff box grew a handle but that was it. Emily groaned in frustration.

“You need to picture what you’re trying to transfigure the box into. Form a clear picture in your mind of a mug. And don’t flick your wrist so much, this isn’t Charms,” Alice instructed, though not gently, she had never been a good teacher.

Emily squinched her eyes shut, her brows scrunched close together. Her tongue poked out between her teeth as she tried to picture a mug in her mind.

“You got it?” Alice asked.

Emily nodded, her eyes still clamped shut.

“Okay, now, a quick motion but not all swishy and flicky like charms. It’s gotta be strong!” Alice coached as she directed Emily’s hand more towards the snuff box as it was currently pulling up to point at Leanne in front of them.

Emily’s wand motion was a bit stiff as she was apparently locking her wrist to avoid too much swishing and flicking. One eye peeked open and she glanced down at the snuff box. It still had the handle and was a bit taller. She opened both eyes as her face split into a wide grin.

“I’m getting it!” She exclaimed to Alice.

“Yeah, you’re getting there, just keep concentrating. Although, you don’t have to lock your wrist, your motion was a bit stiff that time. Try for strong but smooth,” Alice explained.

By the time class was over, Emily had managed to turn her snuff box into a crude mug. It was still the same color as the snuff box and had some bumps and corners, but it had a deep curve in the middle and that was kind of the major requirement for a mug, so Emily was happy with it. Or at least, she was for the first hour after class. On their way to Flying lessons, Emily couldn’t shut up about what she should’ve done better and what she wanted her mug to look like and where she went wrong. Alice had spent years practicing the art of feigning listening, but she figured that after a year of being friends with Emily she would have this art perfected.

At least Emily’s chattering somewhat distracted Alice from her anxiety. They had had over a month’s worth of Flying lessons so far, but Alice still dreaded it. The moment class ended and her feet were returned to the solid ground was the best part of the class. You can be sure that Alice was the best at landing!

Approaching the broomsticks, laid out in neat rows just like every time, Alice’s stomach took up its familiar twisting and sinking feeling. She set her jaw and stood unmoving by a broomstick as the other Gryffindor and Ravenclaw first-years got there. Emily was beside Alice, like always, but Liz was on her other side. 

This had been the case for the past couple weeks. Jason had helped Alice the first two classes, but he was much better at flying and was quickly zooming around with the better fliers. He had also befriended a few other Ravenclaws, most notably Cho Chang; the two were rarely seen apart. Even when with one or the other’s friend group, the other was there too. Thus, Jason arrived with Cho right beside him and they took up positions by brooms next to each other.

Alice rolled her eyes. She knew where that relationship was headed. Jason had on his smitten eyes and Cho seemed to feel the same, but Alice knew her brother and was a pretty good judge of character. Cho seemed a bit of a romantic and Jason could be quite forgetful when it came to normal people things like relationships so wasn’t likely to make romantic gestures. Oh well, if Jason wanted to go down that road, Alice certainly wouldn’t stop him. She didn’t understand why he was even interested in anyone, Alice thought that everyone in their class was too immature to be in relationships, herself included.

Madam Hooch interrupted Alice’s thoughts, and made her face the unsettling task at hand. Madam Hooch walked over to a trunk that Alice hadn’t noticed. This was new. Some of the other students seemed to know what was going on though and began chatting excitedly. Alice overheard the word “Quidditch” and inwardly groaned. Emily’s elbow to the ribs told her that maybe it hadn’t been so inward.

“As I’m sure most of you have already guessed, I have a little surprise for you all today!” Madam Hooch hollered out across the voices. The students quieted and looked to her eagerly. Alice was less than enthusiastic.

“Today, you will all be learning how to play Quidditch! I figured this would be helpful as the first game of the season is this weekend. I’m sure I will see you all there. This way, you will all know the rules and point of the game when you’re watching. Now, I will be splitting the class up into two groups: those who know how to play Quidditch, and those that do not. If you all would help me with that, everyone who knows how to play Quidditch come over to my right side, those that do not on my left,” Madam Hooch ordered.

The students shuffled to either side. Alice didn’t have to move as she was already on the ignorant side. This announcement split up Jason and Cho, as Cho knew how to play and had even told Jason that she was hoping to try out for the Quidditch team next year. Jason came over to stand by Alice as Liz had gone over to the other side.

“Now, Quidditch has three balls: the Quaffle, the Golden Snitch, and the Bludger,” Madam Hooch opened the trunk to reveal the balls as well as six bats. She pulled out a small golden ball about the size of a golf ball. “This is the Golden Snitch. It is small and extremely fast and thus very difficult to see and catch. Hence, it’s worth one-hundred and fifty points and once caught ends the game. This is the job of the Seeker, to catch the Snitch. The Seeker is often small and has to be very fast and an excellent flier.”

Madam Hooch replaced the golden ball and pointed to one ball that was chained into the trunk. The ball was visibly struggling against its bonds. 

“That is a Bludger. There are two in play in a game of Quidditch and these are the most dangerous. They fly around and are hit by Beaters at players of the opposing teams. However, Beaters can only hit at Bludgers and cannot hit it at a player within the scoring zone. Because these are very dangerous, we won’t be using them today. We’ll be using un-enchanted Bludgers that the Beaters will have to get from the ground and hit at players. Neither are we using a standard Snitch, but a slightly bigger and slower version.”

Several students groaned at this, but Alice was relieved. She had a hard enough time staying on her broom without balls flying around and being hit at her to knock her off. She really hoped there was a position that didn’t have to fly at all, she doubted it though. Madam Hooch pulled out a ball about twelve inches in diameter and made of leather bindings.

“This is the Quaffle and it is the ball that scores points by being thrown into one of three rings at either end of the field. Three Chasers carry, pass, and throw this ball to score points, each goal worth ten points. However, the Keeper protects the rings, trying to block the Quaffle from going through the rings. There are many fouls but some of the most common are blagging, when a player grabs the end of another’s broom to slow them down; blatching, flying with intent to collide; and bumphing, when a Beater hits a Bludger into the audience. If any of you commit these fouls you will lose points for your house. The winning teams will win points for their houses. Now, can I have two captains from each group?” Madam Hooch asked.

A dozen hands shot up, mostly from the side that knew how to play.

“Bell and Chang! Go ahead and pick your teams. And let’s see,” Madam Hooch turned to the inexperienced group where only one hand was raised. “Alright Parks, and… Connen!”

Alice’s eyes bulged.

“Jason Connen, sorry, I forgot I had siblings,” Madam Hooch clarified.

Alice placed a hand over her heart thankfully as it slowed its panicked beating. Jason and Cole went over to stand in front of the group. Cole rubbed his hands together as he peered at his options.

“Oh! And you can pick people from other houses!” Madam Hooch added.

“Sweet! Then I want Eddie!” Cole declared pointing at the Ravenclaw boy that had proven himself an adept flier.

“Alice,” Jason said.

Alice glared at him. She didn’t want to be picked just because she was his sister. If he had picked her in the middle maybe it wouldn’t have been as obvious. Alice trudged over to stand with Jason, bumping into him on her way. Jason rolled his eyes. She was never happy with anything he did.

Cole ended up picking Emily and Leanne, so Alice wasn’t on a team with any of her friends. The majority of Jason’s team was Ravenclaws, with just Alice and Robbie from Gryffindor. The captains then set to assigning everyone to positions, asking what they were good at to determine their decisions.

“Okay, Chasers will be myself and Marietta, Robbie, you’re our Beater, Andrew you’re Seeker, and Alice Keeper,” Jason said.

Alice breathed a sigh of relief, as Keeper she wouldn’t have to fly around as much.

“Now, if I can have both teams in the middle of the field, each team on your respective sides,” Madam Hooch called out.

She went over to the experienced teams first and tossed the Quaffle into the air while blowing on her whistle. The students all pushed off the ground and began the game. Katie managed to get the Quaffle first and was speeding away towards the opposing side’s goals. Madam Hooch released a slightly larger Snitch, and then came over to Alice’s group.

“Okay, now, I will toss the Quaffle into the air, and when I blow on my whistle, you will all push off and go into the air. Chasers, you’ll try to get the Quaffle for your team. After you’ve started, I’ll release the Snitch. Got it?” She asked. They all nodded.

“Alright, three, two,” Madam Hooch counted down then placed her whistle in her mouth and threw the Quaffle into the air. She blew a short blast on the whistle and the students all pushed off of the ground.

Alice raced over to her rings and hovered in front of them. Her stomach was doing twists, but half of it was from adrenaline. Alice was very competitive and this was helping her somewhat ignore her fear of flying.

She watched as Jason snatched the Quaffle out of the air and raced to the other end of the field where Leanne was hovering in front of her teams’ goals. Jason sped around Emily and tossed the Quaffle to Marietta. She caught it and tossed it at one of the rings, but Leanne knocked it away. Eddie recovered the Quaffle and began heading down towards Alice. 

“Okay, here we go, here we go,” Alice muttered, shifting on her broom, her eyes locked onto Eddie.

Before he got halfway down the pitch though, a ball came flying at him and he dropped the Quaffle. Robbie chuckled and raced down to recover his Bludger while Marietta recovered the Quaffle. She passed it to Jason who caught it and threw it at the left ring. It soared through before Leanne could get there to stop it. Jason’s team cheered, Alice from the other end of the field, alone, as Leanne recovered the Quaffle and tossed it to Eddie.

Jason proved to have received their parents’ knack for Quidditch. The team also worked well together in general so that the Quaffle never really got close to Alice. Thus she soon grew bored and began watching the other game.

“Yeah! Katie! Take that McLaggen!” Alice shouted, throwing her hands into the air.

Upon losing her balance a bit she quickly grabbed hold of her broom handle again. Her eyes wide and stomach flipping, Alice decided she should probably be less enthusiastic in her cheers. Katie’s team was currently winning, but the lead was slim. The two teams were well-matched and provided for an exciting game.

Liz had just stolen the Quaffle from Thomas and was racing back to Cho’s Keeper when Alice heard her name being shouted. She turned her attention back to her own game to find Eddie racing towards her with the Quaffle. Alice gulped and readied herself to defend the goals. Eddie looked to the right goal, so Alice flew over to defend it, but she realized too late it was a fake. Eddie tossed the Quaffle into the undefended left goal.

Cole’s team cheered as Alice retrieved the Quaffle. She glumly tossed it to Jason who glared at her.

“Pay attention to our game, not theirs!” he scolded, passing the ball to Marietta.

“Well, I would if I was doing anything over here! You guys have been down on the other end for the whole game! It’s like I’m not even playing!” Alice retorted bitterly.

“Tell me about it, he had a wide-open shot!” Jason grumbled.

“He did a fake! I’m sorry I’m not a telepath and couldn’t read that in his mind!” Alice exclaimed, throwing her hands into the air. She again lost her balance and clutched at her broom handle. “Gah! I’ve gotta stop doing that!” she muttered.

Jason shook his head and flew off to the other end of the pitch.

It turned out that was the only goal Cole’s team would score. Jason seemed to work extra hard to keep the Quaffle down on the other team’s end. Alice grumbled as Jason tried to keep her out of the game, but no matter, now she could pay attention to Katie and Cho’s game.

Cho’s team had managed to pull out ahead with a twenty point lead. No matter, that wasn’t a big lead at all, and if Katie’s seeker caught the snitch they’d win by a landslide. Just as Alice thought it, Cho and Henry Jones, another Ravenclaw but the Seeker for Katie’s team, went into a nosedive chasing after the snitch. Cho pulled out ahead and would have caught it but a Bludger careened out of nowhere aimed at Cho’s extended hand. She drew back quickly, losing valuable speed and allowing Henry to race ahead and grab the snitch.

Katie’s team cheered and flew back down to the ground. Alice cheered at her place by the rings. Shortly after that, Cole’s Seeker, Jessica Short, a Ravenclaw, pulled up with the snitch. Regardless, Jason’s team still won with 180 points to Cole’s 160. Alice figured Jessica had just wanted to end the slaughter quickly.

Alice sped back down to the ground, hopping off her broom when she was still a foot or two off the ground. Her stomach dropped thankfully back into place as soon as she landed. Madam Hooch retrieved all the equipment and dismissed the class. Alice went over to congratulate Katie’s team on their win.

“Katie, you were excellent, you’re definitely gonna make the team next year!” Alice praised as she walked with her friends back inside the castle.

“You think so?” Katie grinned.

“Definitely!” Alice confirmed.

“Alice!”

Alice turned to find Jason jogging after her. Alice stopped, waving at her friends to go on ahead. Jason jogged up to her and looked everywhere but at her eyes.

“Yes, Jason,” Alice said tersely.

Jason rolled his eyes at her tone but continued anyway.

“I just wanted to apologize,” Jason began, looking at his shoes, thus he didn’t notice Alice’s jaw drop in shock. “You know, for being a jerk and yelling at you and then keeping you out of the game.”

Alice quickly shut her mouth as Jason finally looked up at her. Alice tried to hide her surprise but she couldn’t seem to lower her brows back down. Jason never apologized this quickly. The norm was for an adult to intercede, making one or the other go and apologize, then they would get in another fight because it wasn’t genuine, and that would resolve everything and they’d return to normal.

“Um, thanks, I guess,” Alice muttered, unsure of what exactly to say. When Jason quirked an eyebrow she hurriedly tried to repair her response. “I mean, um, it’s fine, I forgive you.”

“Okay, so we’re okay?” Jason prompted, sighing in relief.

“Yeah, we’re good,” Alice replied with a grin. A grin split across Jason’s face.

“Good, ‘cause I need help on the Potions essay due tomorrow!” He laughed. 

Alice chuckled and shoved him good-naturedly. The day Jason needed Alice’s help with school work was the day the world ended.

“I’ll see ya tomorrow,” Alice said.

“Yeah,” Jason grinned and the two headed off in opposite directions.

Alice was still in shock at her brother’s apology and jest that she nearly ran headfirst into a bear. Or at least, that was Alice’s first impression as her vision was filled with shaggy fur that was moving. Upon looking up, she realized it was the groundskeeper Hagrid in his furry coat.

“Apologies! Almost didn’t see ya there!” Hagrid smiled in that booming voice of his.

“Oh, no, it was my fault. I wasn’t looking where I was going,” Alice assured the big man, unperturbed.

“Miss Connen, isn’t it?” Hagrid asked.

For the second time in the past five minutes Alice tried to hide her shock. Hagrid noticed though and laughed. His laugh was one where everyone who heard it just had to feel a bit lighter and Alice smiled.

“Professor Triggs is an ol’ friend and lately all he talks about is you and your brother! To be ‘onest, I’m surprised I didn’t reco’nize you earlier! You look just like your mother!” Hagrid beamed.

“Does everyone here know my mother?” Alice asked no one in particular.

“Pretty much! She wasn’t one that was easy to miss!” Hagrid laughed. Alice grinned a bit. “She was a sweet girl, clever too! She sent me letters and pictures after she graduated!”

Alice’s ears perked up at this. It wasn’t that she had never seen pictures of her mom, her family had tons of them that she studied growing up, but these would be of her as a student here, and they’d be wizard pictures, these would move! Alice could actually see her mom’s laugh in action instead of just a snapshot.

“Do you still have some of them?” Alice asked curiously.

“Some of ‘em? I have ‘em all!” Hagrid replied. Noticing Alice’s hungry look, Hagrid continued, “Do you want to see ‘em?”

All Alice could do was nod.

She followed Hagrid out of the castle and across the lawns to the hut by the Forbidden Forest. Alice had always thought it looked small across the lawns, but she realized how silly that notion was. Hagrid was practically a giant, he couldn’t live in a tiny little hut! The hut seemed to tower over her just like the groundskeeper did, and when Hagrid held the door open for her she barely came halfway up the doorframe.

The rest of the hut was similarly jumbo-sized. Hagrid motioned her over to the smallest chair, which Alice still had to climb into and had about a foot between her dangling legs and the ground. Upon the closing of the door, a lump in the corner sat up and howled. Alice brightened up and slid from the chair, going over to the large black Great Dane.

“Ah, that’s Fang. He seems intimidating but he’s a big ‘ol coward!” Hagrid chuckled, gong over to retrieve his photo albums.

Alice wasn’t intimidated in the slightest, she loved dogs, especially big dogs. Even though Fang was about as tall as she was, Alice hadn’t the least qualms about approaching and befriending him. Fang took to her immediately and Hagrid returned to find Fang in Alice’s lap licking her face as the girl giggled and scratched the dog behind the ear. 

Alice managed to escape the Great Dane’s affections and made her way over to Hagrid. Sitting beside him, Alice peered over at the photo album which was more a scrapbook of all the things he’d received from some of his friends. Hagrid flipped the book open about midway where a laughing reflection of Alice stared up at them.

“Here’s your mum and the Potters!” Hagrid pointed to the photo Alice’s gaze had been caught by. “Well, they weren’t the Potters yet, but you know all that, I’m sure!”

A tall boy with messy black hair and glasses had an arm wrapped around a short girl that was the spitting image of Alice just older. This girl had an arm wrapped around another girl with auburn hair. James, Nax, and Lily looked to be a few years older than Alice was now, maybe in their fifth year, and were laughing and smiling as snow fell down around them and stuck in their hair. The group seemed to be swaying and at one point the kids almost lost their balance but James managed to right them, dragging the girls back towards his side to center them.

“Lily used to hate James, the only times she didn’t fight with ‘im were when they were both with Nax. She was friends with both and didn’t tolerate conflict!” Hagrid chuckled. “This one ‘ere, was when I caught Nax and James and Sirius out in the Forbidden Forest. Taking the picture was ‘er idea, she said she wanted to remember the first time she ever get caught breakin’ the rules!” Hagrid’s laughter boomed as he pointed to another picture of Nax and a younger version of himself.

Nax looked like a doll next to Hagrid. He dwarfed her but her smile was just as wide as his. While Alice watched the photo, a hand popped up behind Nax’s head, forming bunny ears on her. Nax turned, revealing a dark-haired boy crouching behind her. She pushed the laughing boy out of the shot and doubled over in laughter as the sound of pots falling was heard.

The other page had letters clipped to it. Noticing Alice look at them, Hagrid unclipped the letters and handed them to Alice.

“Whenever Nax got detention or was sick or injured and shut up in the ‘ospital Wing she would write me notes. They’re nonsense really but they’re entertainin’!” Hagrid explained as Alice looked at one that was simply a very long list of uncomplimentary adjectives attributed to Filch.

Alice moved that note to the bottom of the pile to reveal the next. It read simply: “I got detention again for the last note.” Alice burst out laughing. Alice read the rest of the notes out loud and she and Hagrid roared at them. Well, now Alice knew where she got her sarcasm from!

Hagrid re-pinned the notes to the page and turned to the next. This one was filled with pictures of Nax and Lily and a few other girls that Hagrid couldn’t remember the names of. Hagrid was in a few of them as he explained to Alice that Nax and Lily would come down to have tea with him sometimes on the weekends or if they had a break between classes.

The next page was all pictures of Nax and the dark-haired boy she had pushed out of the picture with Hagrid. He was handsome in a dark and charming kind of way. His black hair was a bit longer, but not shoulder-length, and honestly Alice was a bit jealous of it, it was very wavy and shiny and fell into his eyes gracefully. He had an almost aristocratic look to him that Alice figured could look haughty sometimes but the pictures all showed a genuine smile and laugh that kept this look at bay.

In one picture the two were dancing very awkwardly but laughing about it. Alice nodded, recognizing her own terrible dancing skills. You just had to laugh at yourself when you were that bad.

“That’s Sirius Black, ‘e was James’ best friend and ‘e and your mother grew very close around her fifth year, his fourth,” Hagrid frowned and began to turn the page but Alice stopped him.

“Wait, tell me more about him. I’ve heard a lot about James and Lily, but no one’s really told me anything about this guy, Sirius,” Alice said.

Hagrid harrumphed but at the sparkle in Alice’s eyes he couldn’t refuse her.

“That’s for a reason! Sirius was a troublemaker at school but very talented. A lot like the Weasley twins except his group sometimes bullied other students. Yer mum never liked that and she got in fights with the boys over that! ‘e and yer mum joined up with the group fighting Voldemort and his followers after they graduated. But, well, you heard about the Potter’s deaths right?” Hagrid asked.

Alice nodded.

“Well, Voldemort only found ‘em because they were betrayed by their best friend, by Sirius Black! He sold ‘em out to Voldemort then went crazy and killed another of ‘is friends. ‘e was finally arrested and sent to Azkaban,” Hagrid explained. He shook his head, his eyes growing a bit misty. “I honestly still don’t believe it. ‘e was a troublemaker sure! But ‘e ‘ad always been loyal to his friends! I’ll never understand it.”

Alice was in shock at this revelation. Triggs had told her Sirius went crazy and killed another guy, but she figured that had just been out of grief, not that he was evil! Alice looked down at the pictures of this man that supposedly betrayed his best friends. Alice acknowledged that she didn’t know this guy at all, but the laughing boy in the pictures with her mom didn’t seem like somebody that would betray his friends. Some of Triggs’ words came back to her as a punch in the gut.

“Triggs said my mom came back after the Potters were killed and tried to stop Sirius! You don’t think he killed her too?” Alice’s eyes pleaded with Hagrid.

His big heart wrenched for the girl that would probably spend her whole life never knowing what happened to her mother. Hagrid hadn’t even known Nax went after Sirius. He had no idea what had happened to Nax, but he didn’t want Alice to think that her mother had been betrayed. So he tried to comfort her as best he could.

“No, I don’t think so. We would’ve found yer mum’s…” Hagrid gulped and left the sentence hanging in the air unfinished. Alice knew what he had been about to say. “Sirius cared for yer mum a great deal. In a different way from ‘is friendship with James. I’m probably not the only one who’ll say this, but I think ‘e had a thing for yer mum. He would never hurt ‘er,” Hagrid tried to reassure Alice.

“But if he did like my mom, then wouldn’t he have been upset that she married my dad? Maybe that’s what set him off?” Alice prodded.

“No. Sirius wouldn’t ‘ave hurt Nax. Forget what I said, that’s jus’ an ol’ man’s guessin’! What do I know about who kids like?” Hagrid laughed.

Alice looked down. Now that Hagrid had said it, Alice could see that maybe Sirius had liked her mom. He always seemed to be looking at her in the pictures, especially when Nax wasn’t looking at him. His eyes also seemed brighter when he was looking at her.

Alice shook her head. It was just the fact that Hagrid had suggested it. Once the idea had presented itself, Alice was looking for it! Hagrid knew her mom and Sirius better than she did, and if he said Sirius didn’t hurt her mom, she believed him.

Hagrid made tea and showed her the rest of the pictures and notes and letters he had from Nax. Her mom had been really funny and all her letters had Alice and Hagrid gasping for breath between laughing fits. Eventually, though, they ran out of tea and pictures and letters; the last being a letter and picture of Alice and Jason on their second birthday. Alice laughed at Jason’s pudgy little legs before realizing that was her.

Alice bid Hagrid and Fang goodbye and headed back up to the castle, pulling her scarf up over her chin as the wind had picked up and was biting cold. Alice stomped off any mud or frost her shoes had acquired on the way and continued up to the Gryffindor Common Room. It wasn’t until she entered the Common Room, where the fireplace was roaring welcomingly, that Alice began peeling off layers. She couldn’t feel her nose and fingertips and parked herself right in front of the fireplace.

Some blessed individual had brought hot chocolate up from the kitchens and Alice was passed a steaming mug. She breathed in the aroma graciously and just sat there before the fire with her hands wrapped around the warm mug for several minutes, sipping at the hot liquid. She had just finished her mug, luckily, when two arms scooped her up.

“Excuse you! Just because I’m small does not mean I am to be man-handled!” Alice exclaimed irritably.

Glancing up at her captors she was unsurprised to find the Weasley twins. They carried her over to a table in the corner of the room where they sat her down in a chair. The twins then pulled up chairs across the small table and sat facing her.

“We hear you played Quidditch today,” Fred grinned.

Alice rolled her eyes and groaned. How many times did she have to tell them, she didn’t like flying!

“For the last time, and I am deeply sorry, but I am not the next Quidditch prodigy! I hardly even played at all, I was Keeper and the Quaffle only came over to me once and I missed it!” Alice declared.

The twins’ faces fell. Then they brightened up.

“That’s a shame, but maybe it’s for the best!” Fred grinned.

“Yeah, you’ll escape the terrible reign of Captain Oliver Wood!” George jested.

“Hey, as long as you guys win, I don’t care how tyrannical his reign is!” Alice laughed. “Quick question though,” Alice added.

“Yes, he’s single,” Fred groaned mockingly. Alice grinned but ignored him.

“Why is Quidditch a winter sport? I mean, it’s already cold flying around with the wind and all. Why do it when it’s freezing outside? Wouldn’t it make more sense to be a summer or at the very least fall or spring game? ‘Cause then it wouldn’t be freezing and you’d be flying around and the rushing wind would cool you off,” Alice proposed.

The twins were silent a moment, pondering her comment. They glanced at each other and shrugged before turning back to Alice.

“You make a valid point,” Fred began.

“I think it’s because Quidditch players have to wear a lot of gear and layers,” George explained.

“Yeah, I mean it is a bit cold if it’s raining or snowing, but if it was played when it was hot we would get overheated in the uniforms!” Fred argued.

“But the uniforms only have all the layers because it’s played in the winter. You could play Quidditch in just a T-shirt and shorts. You could even still do gloves and all the guards and stuff without having too many layers. Plus, with less clothing, you wouldn’t weigh as much and thus could fly faster,” Alice countered.

The twins looked at each other again. After pondering and scratching their heads a bit they finally gave up.

“Why are you asking us? We just play the game! We don’t make the rules!” George retorted.

“Actually, Quidditch is a year-long sport. The Quidditch World Cup is held at the end of summer and the matches leading up to it go on throughout the year. We just play Quidditch during the winter here at Hogwarts so that we can get a full season in during the school year,” Lee Jordan explained, sliding into the seat next to Alice.

Alice turned to him with an approving look.

“Thank you! That explains it. At least someone knows his stuff,” Alice replied, with a playful glare at the twins who rolled their eyes and sighed dramatically. 

Alice hung out with the second-years in the Common Room for a while, but all the students there had to evacuate when a first-year, Alice strongly suspected Thomas, accidentally set off a dung bomb. The students staggered, coughing and gagging, up the steps to escape to the dormitories. In all honesty, it was probably a good thing; Alice had Potions the next day and it wouldn’t do to have Snape catch her drifting in class from lack of sleep, thereby handing him an excuse to take points from Gryffindor.

As it was, Snape didn’t need an excuse. He snatched away points from the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws over the slightest infractions which included accidentally knocking something over, or calling him ‘sir’, or brewing the potion correctly. Okay, well maybe he didn’t take them away for those reasons exactly, but that was the implication. He of course used fancy wording to make it sound like rule-breaking: a student was fooling around, or was being snide and impertinent, or boasting. Regardless, the charges were preposterous but the students didn’t comment lest he implicate them in undermining authority.

“Looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the coffin this morning,” Alice muttered under her breath to Emily, stirring as Emily added in the ingredients.

“Huh?” Emily’s brow creased in confusion. Alice checked a sigh.

“I was trying to make a clever joke, implying Snape’s a vampire, sleeping in a coffin,” Alice explained trying to hide her exasperation.

“But vampire’s don’t sleep in coffins,” Emily was genuinely confused.

Alice closed her eyes and heaved a deep breath. She kept forgetting that these kids grew up in the Wizarding World where vampires were understood to be real creatures like a lion or something, not just over-dramatic monsters in old movies with ridiculous accents and a ton of makeup. Alice, thinking, shrugged. Well, she guessed there could be vampires that were over-dramatic, had ridiculous accents, and wore a lot of makeup—she guessed it was really just individual preferences. 

Alice chuckled to herself. What if Wizards had shows like on Animal Planet but about magical creatures? Next on Growing Up Werewolf…

“What?” Emily prodded, nudging Alice who was laughing quietly to herself.

“Oh, nothing,” Alice grinned, picturing a wildlife rescuer type bottle-feeding a toddler werewolf and introducing it to her pet golden retriever who would become like a mother to the werewolf.

Although, on second thought, werewolves would probably be more like that movie Teen Wolf. Though Alice did suspect that whole silver bullet thing was bogus. She’d have to remember to ask someone about that. Vampires too come to think of it. Did garlic really repel them? And if so why? Were they allergic or did they just have some bad history with Italians?

“Alice, stop. Stop!” Emily grabbed Alice’s hand, dragging it, holding the spoon, out of the bubbling cauldron.

“What?” Alice jolted back from her thoughts.

“If you stir it too much it’ll explode,” Emily cautioned under her breath as Snape passed by their desk. She didn’t want to give him any reason to take more points from Gryffindor.

“Sorry, I was thinking about garlic knots lobbed into a crowd of vampires like grenades,” Alice apologized. Emily stared at her like she had grown a second head but Alice continued as if she hadn’t said anything unordinary. Emily shook her head—for Alice, that really wasn’t out of the ordinary.

The girls managed to survive Potions with Snape only taking five points from them for chatting. Alice couldn’t blame it entirely on Emily, they had gotten into a discussion about vampires and Alice had extensively discussed Dracula which Emily found thoroughly entertaining, though ludicrous. As it turned out, garlic was used against vampires, though Emily didn’t know why exactly so Alice continued to entertain the idea of a war with Italians that just had too many painful garlic memories for vampires.

They were discussing the logistics of how much garlic would be needed for a full-scale war with vampires when Emily ran headlong into a brick wall. Well, not quite, but that’s what it felt like. Looking up, her face instantly turned scarlet upon seeing Professor Triggs.

“Oh, uh, excuse me, Professor,” Emily mumbled shyly.

“Oh, no worries! Where are you girls off to?” Triggs wasn’t the least bothered and glanced down at them cheerfully, though his eyes did seem to skirt around Alice not looking directly at her.

Alice realized she hadn’t spoken with Triggs since that day he told her about her mom. Alice figured she probably should have apologized for blowing up on him and storming out. She had simply forgotten. She had worked through it herself and was fine now, but clearly Triggs felt she was still angry. Emily was having difficulty answering so Alice took her opportunity.

“Oh, nowhere in particular! We just got out of Potions,” Alice rolled her eyes playfully.

Triggs cracked a smile, taking her jest as a sign that she wasn’t still angry with him. She hadn’t ever been angry with him anyway, more at everyone else that hadn’t told her about her mom.

“Ooh, I hope Snape wasn’t too hard on you all. He’s been in a bad mood ever since last night. I sort of cleaned him out in a game of cards,” Triggs grinned sheepishly.

“It was you!” Thomas declared angrily, overhearing Triggs’ comment. “Snape took ten points from me for accidentally splashing Cormac!”

“ _Accidentally_ ,” Cole grinned making air-quotes with his fingers. Thomas shoved him and the two continued down the hall, Thomas casting a glare back at Triggs as they left.

“I can’t help that I’m an excellent cards player!” Triggs said in mock arrogance. He then continued hushed in an aside to Emily and Alice, “And that Snape’s a sore loser.”

Alice chuckled appreciatively and Emily giggled. She was still very red in the face and kept casting bashful glances up into Triggs’ flashing gray eyes that she fancied looked like storm clouds. Alice rolled her eyes at her friend’s obvious enchantment with the professor.

“You know, I actually learnt all my tricks from your mother, Alice. Nax was a card shark!” he grinned. His eyes widened in alarm upon realizing the subject he brought up. Alice was past her anger though and all that was left was a sincere curiosity. Her eyes brightened.

“Really? Cool, you know I always beat my brother in Texas Hold’em!” Alice exclaimed.

Triggs and Emily tried to pretend they knew what she was talking about, smiling hesitantly and nodding. Alice saw through it though, they had no idea what she was talking about. She had, weeks ago, resolved herself to having to explain all her Muggle references for the next seven years or just let it go. She let this one go, they could figure out it was a card game.

“I actually wanted to ask you something, Professor,” Alice began a bit awkwardly. This idea had seemed a lost easier in her head.

“Yes?” Triggs prompted.

“Um, well, you went to school with my mom, and well, you knew her better than I did, so I was, uh, wondering, if you could… maybe, um… tell me about her? Like regularly,” Alice fumbled.

Triggs was surprised, as evidenced by his brows shooting to his hairline, but he uttered no disregard. His face was one of intense consideration, touched by the lines of grief, his eyes shining with his remembering. Suddenly a grin split across his face and his eyes sparkled.

“Sure, Alice. I’d love to let you indulge my nostalgia! How about Thursdays around four?” Triggs offered.

“Yeah, that’d be great!” Alice nodded emphatically.

“Fantastic! Well, I’ll see you next week then,” Triggs grinned.

“Are you not coming to the game tomorrow?” Emily asked, piping up for the first time since bumping into Triggs.

“Oh, yes, I almost forgot! Then I’ll see you there! Go Gryffindor!” he exclaimed, then, his eyes wide, covered his mouth with a hand, looking around furtively. “I’m not supposed to show bias,” he said ruefully.

The girls laughed as he proceeded down the corridor. Emily giggled and watched as he left. Alice stared at her in disgust.

“You have a crush on Triggs,” Alice scoffed.

“What?” Emily retorted, peeling her eyes from Triggs’ retreating figure to glare defensively at her friend.

“You like Professor Triggs,” Alice couldn’t quite wrap her head around the idea.

“What! No, I don’t! He’s a teacher! He’s old enough to be my dad! Ew! No, I don’t like him,” Emily said a bit too quickly and vehemently. Alice simply rolled her eyes.

* * *

Friday afternoon dragged on, of course, because everyone was eagerly anticipating the first Quidditch match of the season. Gryffindor and Hufflepuff were facing off Saturday afternoon and Friday seemed determined to make them all suffer to the point that a single afternoon felt like a week. Alice was happy to go to bed early if only so she could get to Saturday quicker.

She had gotten a taste of what Quidditch matches were like in Flying Lessons. Not in her own game, but in watching Katie’s and Cho’s teams play, and she was excited. Alice had always loved sports with a special place in her heart for basketball because it was so fast-paced and physical. Quidditch didn’t disappoint in either of those areas.

Saturday morning, Alice was actually the first one up, which surprised everyone considering Emily practically had to drag her out of bed by the heels or lure her out with some food. Alice was decked out in red and gold from head to toe. She had on her scarf, a red jacket, gold shirt, red and gold striped socks, and even red and gold ribbons in her hair. After breakfast, Lee Jordan introduced her to some kids that were doing face painting and she managed to convince Emily to do it with her. 

Emily, with a roaring lion on her cheek, and Alice, a huge red and gold paw print covering her face, followed the throng of students to the quidditch pitch. There were so many stairs, but Alice was too busy chattering on about Quidditch and how Gryffindor was going to win that she forgot to complain about the stairs. Emily briefly wondered if she normally talked as much as Alice was now, and if so how Alice hadn’t slapped her yet.

Alice shoved and slid her way to the front row, Emily trailing behind her. Lee Jordan waved at them from his place over in the commentator’s box. Professor McGonagall sat with him, to monitor him the girls correctly surmised. The girls waved back and Lee pointed excitedly to his microphone as if to prove he was really going to be commentating. 

McGonagall said something, forcing Lee to turn his attention to her. Katie and Leanne came up next to Emily, greeting the two girls before unrolling a sheet which they had written “Go! Go! Gryffindor!” on and cast a charm so that the letters flashed between red and gold. Emily fumbled in her bag and drew out a pair of binoculars, which she handed to Alice, before drawing out another pair for herself.

“Here,” she muttered.

Alice instinctively took them from Emily, but then glanced down at them in confusion. Emily, catching Alice’s look, nodded to her.

“Even though the stands are up high, it’s still tough to see some of it, especially the Seekers,” Emily explained.

“Oh! Thanks!” Alice grinned and began adjusting the settings on the binoculars.

It wasn’t long before the teams entered onto the pitch. Alice and Emily joined their voices to the cheers that seemed to shake the stands. Fred and George waved grandiosely, as if they were royalty on a parade. Charlie Weasley, their older brother and Seeker for the team, laughed and gently swatted Fred upside the head to focus the twins’ attention to the task at hand.

“They are such hams,” Alice rolled her eyes.

The Gryffindor and Hufflepuff teams formed up on opposite sides facing each other, with Madam Hooch, who was refereeing, in between them. Oliver Wood, captain for the Gryffindor team, and the Hufflepuff captain, a tall blonde boy with an honest-looking face, shook hands. Wood was very solemn and from his clenched jaw, clearly nervous about captaining his first ever game. Madam Hooch looked to be speaking to the two teams, who nodded and mounted their brooms. She brought the whistle to her lips and blew a short blast on it, all fourteen players pushing off and into the sky.

“And Angelina Johnson of Gryffindor snags the Quaffle! Johnson was just brought onto the team this year and shows great promise, in Quidditch and in beauty,”

“Jordan!” McGonagall snapped.

“Sorry, Professor, and Johnson passes to Melbrook!” Lee Jordan’s voice announced over the crowd.

Alice was cheering madly as Melbrook raced down the pitch towards the Hufflepuff goals and their Keeper.

“Melbrook shoots around the defender Caelan Hodgins! And she’s approaching the goals and—MELBROOK DUCK!— Woah! That was a close one! Sarah Melbrook narrowly dodges a Bludger lobbed from Hufflepuff Beater Audrey McCullins! Keeper Thauser bolts at a move towards the right ring—but it was a feint and—SHE SCORES! GRYFFINDOR SCORES!”

Emily squealed and Alice shouted, but their voices were just two among many as the crowd roared with Gryffindor cheers. The stands looked like a roiling scarlet and gold sea, with flags waving and students jumping. Lee was still cheering and McGonagall had to rope him back, forcing him to re-focus on his job.

“And Hufflepuff’s in possession, Chaser Douglas Begbie with the Quaffle and he is soaring towards the goal posts, but—OUCH!—that one had to hurt, Begbie’s knocked by a Bludger in the back, hit by one of the Weasley twins—George I think, but one can never be too sure—and Gryffindor regains possession, Chaser Elgin Ewart with the Quaffle—what a beautiful pass to Johnson—not as beautiful as Johnson is though—“

“JORDAN!”

“Right, Professor, sorry. Oh! Nice dive around Begbie—but she’s faced with Hodgins and McCullins—she needs help guys!—she passes to Melbrook—OOH!—stolen by Ainsely Barneston! Barneston swerves around a Weasley twin—THE SNITCH!”

Everyone’s attention was interrupted as Charlie Weasley and the Hufflepuff Seeker dove through the middle of the game after a tiny speck of gold. Alice’s binoculars flew up to her eyes so fast she bumped the bridge of her nose painfully. She searched madly for the Seekers and finally found Charlie pulling ahead of the Hufflepuff Seeker. The snitch zoomed up above Charlie’s head and he pulled up after it. He reached out and was just inches from grabbing it, but he wasn’t paying attention to where the snitch was leading him and he nearly ran headlong into Sarah Melbrook. Charlie pulled up just in time and the two Gryffindors avoided collision, but in that split second Charlie lost sight of the snitch and Melbrook dropped the Quaffle she had stolen from Hufflepuff.

“Luckily Johnson recovers the Quaffle! Johnson’s very reliable, a genuinely good person to have around—“

“Jordan,” McGonagall warned with a glare.

“And she passes to Ewart—NO!—Ewart’s knocked by a Bludger hit from Hufflepuff’s Heath Graeme and loses the Quaffle—Douglas Begbie recovers it and Hufflepuff’s back in possession—Begbie passes ahead to Hodgins—Hodgins is trying to make up for that steal Melbrook made in the confusion over the snitch—Oliver Wood, the young Gryffindor captain, is waiting for him—Hodgins is gonna sc—SAVED! By an excellent dive from Wood!—Ewart with the Quaffle—he dives under Barneston—dodges a Bludger hit by McCullins—he’s at the goal posts—GRYFFINDOR SCORES!”

Alice just knew she was gonna be hoarse by the end of the game. The crowd erupted once more and the game continued on much the same for another hour. Hufflepuff managed to score a few goals, but Gryffindor never gave up the lead.

“Seventy-Thirty, Gryffindor in the lead—and it’s Begbie with the Quaffle—Begbie ducks around Melbrook—Wood dives, but it’s just out of reach—HUFFLEPUFF SCORES!”

The yellow and black side of the stands erupted. Alice glared over at them, her competitiveness gnawing at her stomach even though Gryffindor was still ahead by thirty points. But all Hufflepuff had to do was get the snitch and they’d win. Alice turned her attention immediately to Charlie Weasley and was not disappointed.

The Weasley brother saw something and dove from his place hovering above. He sliced through the main play, nearly cutting off Hodgins, and leaving the Hufflepuff Seeker flat-footed. 

“Hufflepuff’s Seeker, Cedric Diggory, jumps into action after Charlie Weasley, but the Gryffindor Seeker’s got too much of a lead! He’s racing off towards the ground where—YES! There it is! The Snitch!—Graeme lobs a Bludger at Weasley but Charlie—WOW! Did you see that loop!—He’s heading into the corner after the Snitch and—HE’S CAUGHT IT! WEASLEY’S CAUGHT THE SNITCH! GRYFFINDOR WINS!”

If Alice had thought the crowd was loud before, she was deafened by the roar from the stands upon this declaration. Charlie Weasley flew up to the level of the stands, holding the snitch out triumphantly. Alice cheered wildly as he passed by their stand. Charlie was ambushed before he could complete his lap around the stadium, the rest of his team flying into him, forming a big, mid-air heap of scarlet.

Suddenly, a scarlet figure fell from the clump. The crowds gasped as they all recognized a Weasley twin, falling to the ground, apparently injured. He fell to the ground hard, and lay there, rolling in pain. The rest of the team shot down to the ground after him. Alice pulled her binoculars back out to see which Weasley twin was hurt. It was Fred.

“It appears the Gryffindor Beater Fred Weasley has been injured! Madam Hooch rushes to the fallen player!” Jordan announced, but Alice hardly heard, she was already racing down the stairs alongside a majority of the crowd. 

The students raced onto the field and Alice shoved her way to the front. George was beside his brother, who was holding his arm and wincing in pain. He didn’t cry out though, not that he would no matter how painful, Fred always tried to appear tough.

“Are you alright? What happened?” Alice blurted out, sliding up to the other side of her friend.

“My arm—” Fred sucked in a breath through gritted teeth. “It got pinned between Sarah and Charlie in the huddle—I think it may be broken,”

“Well, I’m sure Madam Pomfrey will fix you up real quick! You’ll be back good as new in a matter of moments I’m sure!” Alice grinned, trying to sound optimistic.

“Let me see!” Madam Hooch ordered, coming up to Fred.

He drew his good arm away from the pained one and Madam Hooch inspected it. At her touch, Fred gasped in pain and bit his lip. Madam Hooch shook her head and clicked her tongue.

“Could be a fracture, we need to get you to the Hospital Wing right away!” she declared.

“Ok, but just hold on, Alice, come closer,” Fred requested in a pained voice. Alice leaned in, concern etching her face. “Closer,” Fred urged. Alice leaned in until their faces were mere inches away. “I need to tell you something, just in case…”

“No, Fred, you’ll be fine! I’m sure Madam Pomfrey can fix up a bone fracture like that!” Alice snapped her fingers, but her smile was weak.

“Alice… I need to tell you…”

Alice’s eyes widened and grew misty as Fred’s voice strained with pain. What did he need to tell her so badly?

“Gotcha,” Fred whispered in pain.

Alice blinked in confusion. Fred’s pain-filled expression instantly vanished, replaced by a mischievous grin. This look was reflected on his twin’s face and Fred pulled his “broken” arm out to playfully slap Alice on the shoulder. Her face instantly dropped, her brows lowering over her glaring eyes, unamused. Her lips pursed as Fred and George leapt to their feet. She then clambered to her feet after them, rolling her eyes.

She wasn’t the only one taken in by the trick, and the crowd erupted in noise. Some laughed, others were confused thinking Fred healed, others angry at being tricked. McGonagall was one of the latter and she stormed up to the twins.

“This is no laughing matter! Injuries are serious! I cannot believe you would do such a thing! Twenty points from Gryffindor! And detention for you both!” McGonagall scolded, glaring at both twins.

Their eyes widened in shock and their mouths opened to protest but McGonagall simply held up a hand to silence them. Without another word she stalked off and dispersed the crowd. The twins turned, glumly, back to Alice who had now been joined by Lee Jordan, Angelina, and Alicia. The three girls glared at the twins, while Lee was grinning widely. The twins cracked a smile.

“You two are ridiculous,” Alice rolled her eyes.

“You shouldn’t have joked about that!” Angelina scolded, her arms crossed.

“Yeah! Everyone thought you were seriously hurt!” Alicia said.

“I thought it was great! Was it planned or just spur of the moment? Wow, guys that was gutsy! And you got detention for it too!” Lee congratulated. The girls all glared at him.

“Well, we had originally planned to do it during the game, but we thought that might get us disqualified so we figured to do it afterwards,” Fred explained with a smirk.

“McGonagall was bloody pissed!” George exclaimed.

“She had a right to be,” Angelina retorted.

“Aw! Come now! You’ve gotta admit, that was pretty hilarious!” Fred replied.

“I thought Alice was gonna cry!” George added.

“I don’t cry,” Alice stated simply, a bit of bitterness creeping into her voice as well.

The twins and Lee laughed and Fred and George took up places on either side of Alice.

“So, we’re thinking that was worth at least fifteen points!” George said.

“I’d say twenty!” Lee piped up. Alice silenced him with a glare.

“That wasn’t even magical!” Alice protested but the judge (Lee) ignored her.

Well, it was official, Alice had lost her lead in the prank war.


	13. What is this White Precipitation Falling from the Sky and How Can I Use it Against People?

Alice thought she was surely dead.

She woke one morning to find the outside world only consisting of black and white. Everything was blanketed with a white layer that reflected the sun and made her eyes hurt. Nothing seemed to move or make a sound. It was also bitterly cold.

Alice knew that she must have died in her sleep and woken in the afterlife. There was no other explanation for this drastic change in scenery. She briefly feared that she had been sent to hell because she never imagined her heaven would be so bitingly cold. She couldn’t feel her fingers and toes and her nose was burning and dripping.

Her first hint that she might not be dead was the appearance of Emily. Unless something dire had happened, she didn’t think Emily would’ve randomly died in her sleep too. Emily also seemed unperturbed by the new environment. Her next clue was the appearance of the Weasley twins. Alice was sure that those two would not be in her heaven, unless of course this was hell in which case that would make sense. Maybe they all died in a horrible prank gone wrong?

Emily tried to disabuse Alice of her notions, but she wasn’t hearing of it. She went down to investigate for herself. Wrapped head to toe with just her eyes peeking out from between a hat and scarves, Alice proceeded out into the barren landscape. She was unnerved to find her footprints disturb the white ground, sinking in with a crunch. Kneeling down, Alice scooped up some of the white substance into her gloved hands. It was cold and wet.

Suddenly, a white ball smacked into the side of her head, covering her in powder, with white flakes getting caught in her hair where they slowly melted. Fred, George, and Lee Jordan roared with laughter, each of them with handfuls of the white substance. They turned their attention to a new victim, sending a flurry after Percy Weasley.

Alice finally faced the facts. She wasn’t dead. This was snow.

Now, many might wonder at Alice’s confusion, but she was from Florida. Hot, humid, sticky Florida that suffered from debilitating sunshine and occasional hurricanes. Alice hadn’t even been a thought the last time Florida saw real snow and even then it had barely been enough to cover the ground. Alice had never even imagined there could be this much snow in one place and that it would so change the scenery. Hogwarts was almost unrecognizable covered in the thick blanket.

“Well this is strange, but hey no classes!” Alice cheered. Emily raised an eyebrow.

“What are you talking about?”

“It’s snowing so classes are canceled,” Alice explained, gradually suspecting this may not be the case. Emily reached over and felt Alice’s forehead.

“Are you feeling alright? You’re not coming down with something are you?”

Alice jerked away from Emily’s worrying hand.

“Seriously? You guys don’t get snow days? In the South—U.S.—if there’s even half an inch of snow the roads are shut down!” Alice threw her arms in the air.

“Well, first: we don’t have to travel to school, this is a boarding school so they wouldn’t close down for that. Second, this is nothing, just a few inches,” Emily glanced down at the relatively shallow imprints they left in the snow.

Alice’s mouth gaped at her. She looked down at her feet, lifting one up and pointing at the impression her foot had made in the snow, which to her was incredibly deep. She then waved her arms around at the snow covering everything.

“Nothing?!” she burst.

Emily giggled but her laughter turned to a shriek as Alice came at her with a snowball. Emily scampered across the snow, and Alice chased after her though at a slower pace as she was hampered by her five layers of clothing. Emily seemed to have no such difficulties and Alice marveled at the girl’s agility. Oh well, Alice had a decent arm.

She stopped in her tracks and launched the snowball after Emily’s retreating form. Emily glanced back over just in time to see the snowball arcing towards her, but without enough time to dodge it. The snowball smashed onto Emily’s shoulder, showering her in the white powder. Alice slipped and slid after her as Emily spit snow and hair out of her mouth. Alice grinned triumphantly but Emily glared.

“Oh, now you’ve done it!” Emily bent down and formed her own snowball. Alice’s eyes widened and she quickly changed directions. Emily didn’t have as good an arm as Alice, but she was more adept at moving in snow so she quickly caught up with her and smashed the snowball into Alice’s hat.

The girls’ squeals and laughter mingled with that of other students as more came down to enjoy the first snow of the season. Alice and Emily’s snowball fight quickly got incorporated into a larger free-for-all. Percy shot through the middle of the game, snowballs following him magically as Fred and George roared with laughter. Percy quickly ducked around a tree and a few of the snowballs crashed into the trunk, but one managed to smack Percy in the face once he peered back around the tree. Percy threatened no end of torment for the twins, but they had already moved on to new victims—unfortunately for the girls. 

A barrage of snowballs came racing towards Alice and Emily. Emily squealed and ducked behind Alice. Alice whipped out her wand and shouted “Repello!” The snowballs suddenly shot backwards, repelled by Alice’s spell. The boys’ eyes widened in shock as the snowballs were hurtled back directly at them. The twins tried to scramble out of the way but the snowballs returned with a splat. The girls got started on their get-away before the boys had wiped the snow from their eyes.

After a brief snowball fight with the twins, the girls managed to find a quiet spot where they began building a snowman. As this was Alice’s first snowman, she insisted they make it by hand, without using magic. Emily grumbled a bit at this, but she helped just the same and the girls managed to finish their construction before lunch.

“Warmth!” Alice cried as they stumped wearily into the castle. She then began peeling off layers, starting with her hat and scarves and outer jacket which were soaked through by now from the snow. The girls stomped off their boots within the entrance but still managed to track snow further down the corridor.

Sitting down to lunch Alice grabbed hold of a steaming pitcher of hot chocolate and poured herself a mug. She simply sat, with her hands wrapped around the warm mug, breathing it in for a few moments before daring a sip. Even still she burned her tongue.

“So I tried to ask my parents if I could stay here over the holidays but my mum flipped! So I’m gonna have to leave for break,” Emily informed her friend in disappointment.

“Why would you stay here?” Alice grunted, tearing into a piece of bread. Emily gave her a confused look.

“To keep you company of course!” Emily replied.

Alice’s brow creased as she peered at Emily curiously. She had never expected her friend to be willing to give up her holiday plans just to make sure Alice wasn’t here alone. This girl was so sweet, and Alice really didn’t understand how she had managed to befriend Emily considering her own cynical and aggressive nature.

“Thanks for the thought,” Alice smiled. Emily beamed back at her. “But you don’t have to worry about me, I mean, my brother’s stuck here too!”

“Yeah, we are too!” George announced as the twins slipped onto the benches beside the girls. Emily seemed relieved by this, as if finally convinced her friend wouldn’t be lonely over break.

“Why are you guys stuck here?” Alice asked curiously.

“Ah, Charlie’s wanting to go on some tour of some place with dragons looking for a job after school and, besides our parents, he can only take one other person,” Fred waved dismissively.

“And Bill already called dibs!” George chuckled.

“Well, only one of you guys could’ve gone anyway,” Emily pointed out.

“We’re a set, and thus count as a singular entity,” Fred replied.

“Who could argue with that logic?” Alice rolled her eyes.

“Hey, you’re a twin, you understand!” George pointed out.

“Oh, I wasn’t saying you were wrong!” Alice grumbled.

“I’m going to France over winter break! My mum’s from there and we’re going to visit family but I’m hoping to convince them to take me to some museums or Disneyland!” Emily cheerily changed the subject, intimating that the whole twin-identity was a sore subject for Alice.

“Wicked!” Fred grinned.

“That sounds like fun, I love amusement parks, but I do hate the lines!” Alice added.

“That’s just because you’ve only gone as a Muggle! Wizards can skip lines and there are secret areas for wizards in all the major amusement parks!” George exclaimed.

“Yeah, Disneyland in California has a whole lower level with magic rides and shows and stuff! At least that’s what I’ve heard,” Fred told them conspiratorially.

“Man! I’ve lived in Florida most of my life and I’ve missed out on all the perks!” Alice complained.

“Well, you’ll just have to go back then!” Emily smiled.

After the group finished lunch they headed back outdoors to enjoy the snow some more. Alice declared that the snowman Fred and George created with magic was cheating, and that hers was therefore superior. This resulted in a battle between their snowmen, each side levitating theirs into the air where they commenced crashing the snowmen into each other. It turned out Alice’s Muggle-style snowman won out, as the base remained a solid-packed sphere when the twins’ snowmen finally burst apart to fall back to the ground.

The kids returned inside, monopolizing the fireplace in the Common Room as they desperately tried to get warm. Emily brought down a pile of fluffy blankets and the four were soon wrapped up as if in cocoons before the fire. When Emily started dozing before the fire, Alice determined it was time for them to go to bed and bid the boys goodnight. The girls snuggled gratefully into their beds and soon drifted off into exhausted slumber.

Alice had a hard time paying attention in class that week as she would simply stare out the window watching the snow fall and accumulating into a thick layering over the landscape. Emily was constantly prodding her when the professors looked over, bringing Alice out of her daydreams of frolicking in the snow and speeding across the frozen lake, ignoring the fact that she didn’t know how to ice skate. Doing homework after classes was even harder to concentrate on with the fireplaces crackling, making the Common Room ideal for dozing.

The holidays were fast approaching, and as such, Hogwarts students had holiday break. Alice was relieved to find they had Christmas off, considering she’d been cheated out of another break…

_“What do you mean we don’t have a Thanksgiving Break?!” Alice demanded sharply. She glared at Fred, George, and Lee Jordan who were trying to contain their mirth under her imperious eye._

_“Thanksgiving’s an American holiday! Why would we get it off?” Fred laughed._

_“Because it’s Thanksgiving! And I’m American!” Alice blustered._

_“Yeah, but you’re in Scotland!” George exclaimed._

_“That doesn’t mean I should be denied a celebration of my nation’s history!” Alice retorted._

_“Didn’t the pilgrims kill all the Indians after that feast?” Lee Jordan pointed out._

_“What’s your point?” Alice crossed her arms over her chest and raised an eyebrow. Lee Jordan shook his head._

_“You guys just don’t get it! This is a holiday that is all about_ food _! It’s the greatest holiday ever! So what if the historical basis is a bit sketchy, it’s the one day that it is not only acceptable but_ expected _that you stuff your face with meats and carbs!” Alice threw her arms in the air as her voice reached its crescendo. She really couldn’t understand why these guys didn’t care—this was_ Thanksgiving _she was talking about!_

_“Alright, but it’s an American national holiday, and we’re not in America, so we don’t get off!” Fred explained for the hundredth time._

_Alice groaned and flopped onto the couch._

_“It’s not even about getting out of school! I’ll miss Thanksgiving dinner! The mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, turkey, ham, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie!” Alice’s mouth watered just thinking about it. Her eyes began to tear up just a bit._

_She had never been more surprised when she went down to the Great Hall for dinner to find all of the staple Thanksgiving foods laid out on the tables before her. Her eyes were as big as the moon and thus they caught movement in the periphery. Alice turned to see Dumbledore raise a glass to her and her brother. Alice had never loved anyone more than she loved the Headmaster at that moment!_

Aside from that happy surprise on the part of the Headmaster, Alice had been fiercely disappointed about not getting a Thanksgiving break. Luckily this was not the case with Christmas and Alice woke on a Monday morning—well, more like afternoon—with no classes to rush off to! 

As the students were off, the castle seemed empty with most students gone on vacation. Emily had delayed leaving her friend as long as she could but she couldn’t push it back any longer and had left last week, practically crying upon bidding Alice goodbye. Alice reminded her that Christmas break was only a couple of weeks and that she wasn’t going anywhere while Emily was gone. Emily calmed at this a bit, but now that Alice thought about it as she crunched through the Forbidden Forest with Fred and George, Emily was probably right for worrying, knowing that her friend would get into trouble, possibly being horribly killed by some monster that lived in the forest.

“Don’t worry about it! All the dangerous creatures are hibernating…probably,” Fred laughed. Alice shoved him and Fred stumbled into a nearby tree, dislodging snow from the limbs above them and depositing it squarely atop Alice. Alice stopped dead in her tracks, mouth gaping as the snow melted into her clothes. As if she wasn’t cold enough! Fred and George were laughing so hard they couldn’t walk straight and George stumbled over a tree root, landing face first into a snowdrift. Now it was Alice’s turn to laugh, along with Fred who had been knocked off his feet by his mirth.

The group finally collected themselves, not before George launched a snowball into Fred’s face, to make it even, and continued on. Besides the thrill of simply being somewhere they were not supposed to, the Forbidden Forest wasn’t very exciting so far. The kids grew bored of teasing each other and began a game of hide and seek—the only game shared by both the wizard twins and the Muggle-raised Alice.

Alice scrambled over a fallen tree and wedged herself in a small depression in the snow behind it. She hid her white puffs of breath beneath her gloved hands as she heard George crunching through the snow after her and Fred. Alice hunkered down in her hiding spot as George drew closer and turned her head away from the direction she heard him coming from. A scream pealed out unbidden from her mouth as she scrambled away from the gigantic remains of a spider.

“Alice! It’s like you’re not even trying!” George whined as he came up and tagged her over the fallen tree. Alice couldn’t peel her eyes from the huge spider carcass, its legs curled sickeningly up under its belly and covered in frost. George followed her line of sight and stumbled back in shock.

“Bloody hell! Fred! Come take a look at this!” George cried out as he leapt over the fallen tree. Fred stomped from his hiding spot behind a tree and approached them, grumbling.

“If this is some kind of trick--” Fred stopped dead upon seeing the huge spider. “Wicked!” he breathed, his eyes gleaming and scrambled over to inspect it.

George picked up a stick and began poking the half-frozen corpse. Fred actually reached out and snapped off a bit of a leg, tossing it away in disgust hastily and wiping his glove off onto George. Alice managed to regain her feet and cast the spider wary glances, not completely convinced it was dead. Alice’s motto with spiders was that unless it was a smear of guts on a surface, it could still be alive and dangerous.

“Aw, come on Alice, it’s dead as a doorknob,” George grinned.

“Yeah, it’s not gonna bite!” Fred jumped at her, startling Alice from her intense stare-off with the eight sightless eyes. Alice swatted Fred’s arm.

“I hate spiders, dead or alive, and I was hiding right next to it!” Alice shivered at the thought.

“Why is it so huge?” George thought out loud.

“Global warming,” Alice muttered. Fred and George glanced at her, lost. Alice shook her head “Lame excuse for a joke, ignore me.”

“Maybe it’s an escapee from a spell gone wrong?” Fred ventured a guess, taking the stick from George and poking at the body.

“Or a spell gone horribly right,” Alice grumbled, still maintaining a good distance away from the corpse so that if it came alive it would grab the boys first giving her time to flee.

Fred poked at the spider a bit more before growing bored and tossing the stick near the spider. Whether or not the spider had a bit of life left in it, was still going through rigor mortis, or the stick merely disturbed the body, the spider gave a twitch, sending the kids scrambling away in terror. They didn’t stop running until they left the forest behind, each kid gasping for breath.

Alice felt like needles were stabbing into her throat and chest with each inhale, every exhale issuing a plume of white. Fred was bent over double, trying to catch his breath while George leaned against a tree trunk gasping. The kids gradually raised their heads to look at each other, and the three burst into laughter.

“Oi! What’re you kids doing there?” a deep voice boomed from the groundskeeper’s hut.

“Bloody hell!” Fred gasped as the three kids high-tailed it out of there before Hagrid could chase them down.

All that running and terror really worked up their appetites so the kids headed to the Great Hall for lunch. There were hardly any students hanging around during break, so all but one of the long tables had been removed. The hall had also been decorated for the holidays and giant evergreens lined the walls, decorated with gold and silver baubles. Professor Flitwick was guiding floating tinsel onto the upper branches of an evergreen that dwarfed even Hagrid. Fake snow—or it could’ve been real, Alice was at a magic school after all—sprinkled down from the magical ceiling. The Gryffindor and Slytherin banners really worked with the whole Christmas theme, Ravenclaw’s blue fit the whole winter vibe, but Hufflepuff’s yellow and black was pushing it.

Alice saw Jason sitting at the long table, reading a book while absentmindedly munching on fries—which everyone here called chips for some strange reason. Alice led the boys over towards Jason and she plopped down next to him while the twins sat on the other side.

“Heya bro!” Alice greeted loudly. Jason jumped, dropping a fry in his surprise. He rolled his eyes at Alice and the Weasley twins’ grins.

“Hi Alice,” Jason grumbled. “Fred, George,” he added, glancing over to the twins who nodded in acknowledgement.

“What’cha reading?” Alice asked, crowding over his shoulder to get at the book. Jason lifted the book away from her prying fingers.

“Hogwarts, A History,” Jason answered with a touch of irritation.

“Again?” Alice scoffed, stealing some of her brother’s fries. Jason slid his plate out of her reach, at which Alice fixed him with an affronted glare.

“I’m sure you can find something more exciting than bothering me?” Jason suggested. Fred, George, and Alice all shook their heads.

“Nope,” Alice stated.

“Nah,” Fred grinned.

“Hey, where’s that girl you’re always hanging around?” George asked.

“Cho is on holiday with her family, I believe they were going to Australia,” Jason replied as he fended off Alice’s attempts at reaching across to retrieve her brother’s plate of fries, despite the fact that the actual platter of fries was sitting just in front of her.

“Australia? That sounds like fun! You know, I don’t know why Aunt K didn’t take us for holiday, she’s always traveling around the world,” Alice said, finally triumphing in stealing Jason’s plate.

“That’s for work, she can’t take two eleven year-olds on business trips,” Jason scoffed. He glared down at his plate, which Alice had slid back in front of him while she stole fries off of it. “Why don’t you just take my plate?”

“Aw! Where’s the fun in that?” Alice retorted between bites. “And anyway I don’t want fries!”

“Then why are you eating them?” Jason demanded.

“Because you have them,” Alice explained with a smirk.

“Isn’t it annoying having a little sister?” Fred grinned to Jason. Jason sighed and dropped his head down onto the table as Alice’s brows raised importantly.

“I’m older thank you very much!” Alice retorted, placing a hand over her chest.

“By like five minutes!” Jason groaned.

“Correction! Five minutes fifty-eight seconds! Which is closer to six minutes!” Alice pointed out. Jason rolled his eyes.

A hoot interrupted the group as Tilly flew in from the window. He flew down low over the table before gracefully landing before the twins and sticking out a leg which had a letter tied to it.

“Isn’t post supposed to come at morning meals? You’re late Mister!” Alice teased, tapping the owl affectionately on the beak. Tilly hooted as Alice stroked his feathers and Jason removed the letter.

He inspected the envelope and paused at the imprint in the wax seal. It had an abstract shape that looked sort of like a hunting dog pointing.

“Hey, doesn’t this look like Aunt K’s ring?” Jason asked, showing Alice the seal.

Instead of answering, Alice got a huge grin on her face and ripped the letter open. Red and gold confetti practically exploded from the envelope, flying up to form “I Miss You Guys” before bursting once more and raining down on Alice and Jason. Once all the confetti settled, Alice dug through the envelope for anything else. She pulled out a key, quirking an eyebrow and raising it so Jason could inspect it as well.

“A key?” George questioned. Alice shrugged in answer, but Jason’s face lit up.

“It’s a clue, Alice! You know how every year Aunt K sends a little teaser or clue before our presents!” Jason explained excitedly.

“Oh yeah! But she hasn’t done it in a couple years. Why can’t she just give us the presents like a normal person?” Alice grumbled, though she grinned as well. Jason snatched the key from Alice’s hands and turned it over in his hands, inspecting it thoroughly.

“Other than this little thing, it’s pretty ordinary, though old fashioned,” Jason commented, showing Alice the design in the head of the key. Alice plucked it from his hands and brought it up to her face mere inches from her nose, practically going cross-eyed peering at it. The head was a ring like in older, antique keys, but in the middle of the open ring, two metal bands twisted once. The twisting bands formed a thin neck at the spot of their overlap before going off to form larger bases where it connected with the head.

“Is it supposed to represent unity or something, like the present’s for both of us?” Jason guessed, though his pursed lips implied he had little confidence in this guess.

Alice didn’t respond but rested her elbows on the table and raised the key up to continue her inspection. As her gaze focused on the key, she caught bright colors in the background. Refocusing her gaze, Alice’s eyes widened as she stared directly at the hourglasses tracking house points. Alice hit Jason in the arm and pointed to the hourglasses, still holding the key up level with the hourglasses. Jason’s eyes widened as well and he grinned.

“An hourglass!” Jason breathed.

“So does that mean the present will be late?” Fred grinned.

“No, it probably has something to do with time, like something that will help us in the future or manage time,” Jason replied.

“Yeah, but why didn’t she just send a watch or hourglass instead? Why a key with a vague hourglass shape?” Alice asked, more to herself than anyone else present. She tapped a finger on her chin thoughtfully.

“So, keys unlock, and hourglasses track time—“

“Although those hourglasses track points,” George pointed out, gesturing back to the four house hourglasses.

“Yeah, but Aunt K didn’t go to Hogwarts so she probably wouldn’t instinctively think that,” Jason clarified, putting his hand to his chin.

Fred and George grinned to each other as Alice and Jason sat thinking in the same exact position with identical looks on their faces and abstracted gazes. Now the two siblings really looked like twins.

“Hello, Fred, George, Jason! Alice, are you ready to unlock some more of the past?” Professor Triggs asked enthusiastically having just come up to the group.

Alice’s and Jason’s eyes widened and they looked to each other with similar ‘eureka!’ expressions.

“Professor! You’re a genius!” Jason announced excitedly. Triggs was a bit confused but grinned and straightened his tie smugly.

“Well, I was sorted into Ravenclaw,” he smirked.

“Do you think it’ll be something about dad as a kid? Or mom?” Alice rambled excitedly.

“Or about our wizarding ancestry! Remember all that old family stuff in Grandpa’s office that they never let us look too long at? It’s probably because they were magical artifacts or moving pictures or something!” Jason prattled on, of course going directly to the historical aspect. Although Alice had to admit, she was curious about their family’s magical lineage ever since she had heard about the different wizarding blood categories.

“Anyway…” Triggs interrupted, still completely lost in the conversation. “Alice, are you ready?”

Alice looked up at the professor as if seeing him there for the first time. Her brows lowered questioningly at first before her eyes widened and she leapt from the table.

“Oh! Yeah! Ready!” Alice exclaimed.

Triggs headed off towards the doors, but Alice darted back one last time to steal a fry Jason was just about to pick up. She stuffed the fry in its entirety into her mouth with a grin as Jason scowled at her.

“Alice! You don’t even like the crunchy ones!” he yelled after her as she raced back after Triggs.

Alice filled Triggs in about her Aunt on the way to their weekly meeting. Triggs revealed that Nax had often spoken about her friends in the states, especially about Kensington, fondly known to the twins as Aunt K. Apparently Nax and all of the Connen children used to play Quidditch together when she visited over the summers or on break.

“Gah! So everyone in my family is good at Quidditch but me!” Alice exclaimed a bit irritated. Triggs raised an eyebrow questioningly. “My uncle was apparently one of the greatest Beaters! My dad was supposedly pretty great too and I know my mom was really good, I found the trophy from when her team won here! And now even Jason is taking to it!”

“But you don’t like it?” Triggs queried.

“I don’t like flying period!” Alice declared, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Why is that?” Triggs prodded. 

Alice opened her mouth as if to respond, but nothing came out. She hurriedly closed her mouth and chewed on her lower lip, avoiding Triggs’ gaze. “No reason,” she mumbled, staring out the window.

Triggs didn’t prod her further. They had gone through this kind of thing before, Alice would clam up about personal stuff and Triggs wouldn’t push her, but eventually she would tell him, as if she couldn’t keep it on her chest anymore. Alice glared out the window at the waning sun but she couldn’t pretend to find it interesting and knew she would have to redirect her focus at some point soon. When she was weary of imagining she could see the sun rays slowly melting the snow off the trees, she heaved a grumbling sigh and shifted in her seat as she looked directly back to Triggs. He was just leaning back in his chair waiting.

“The plane crash,” Alice blurted. “I mean, I used to love flying! It was like roller coasters, which I love, so I always used to get real excited about flying on planes and I’m sure my parents probably put me on a mini-broom before my mom… and I probably loved it! But…” She stared down at her hands in her lap as she picked at her fingernails, but she wasn’t paying attention to that at all. “After my dad and uncle… they died in a plane crash. I used to think flying was safe, I mean the odds are better than driving, but after that I only feel safe when I’m connected to the ground,” Alice shrugged.

Triggs watched as Alice’s face grew stony, as she forced away all the bad feelings. Alice was very good at moving past things, but Triggs doubted if she ever really let them go. He realized that unless she full out broke down, she never faced her emotions, forcing back down anything she didn’t want to feel. She also tried to appear tough at all times, which she was—tough. Over their sessions, Triggs had come to realize that Alice was one of the strongest people he had ever met, ranking amongst his fellow former Order Members, but she hid all emotion behind sarcasm and wit. She saw expression as a weakness, and Triggs knew from experience that would eat at her inside.

With a big sigh, Alice looked back up at Triggs, a forced smile on her face.

“That’s the first time I’ve ever admitted that!” she chuckled weakly.

“That’s good, you should recognize the source of your fears. Only then can you accept them and maybe move past them, of course, in this instance, I wouldn’t think facing your fears would be the best course of action,” Triggs encouraged, but not wanting to imply that she should throw herself into flying and Quidditch. He knew she would if she thought it would help, but he didn’t think it would. Fears tied to grief he had found most difficult to manage, though they did seem to lessen over time.

Alice chuckled, a real one this time.

“Is this story-time or a therapy session?” she smirked.

“Well, if it’s the latter, I’m getting cheated out of my pay!” Triggs grouched before breaking into a grin.

“I think therapist would be a good back-up career for you,” Alice teased.

“I’ll keep that in mind considering this school’s history with my position,” Triggs laughed. Alice quirked her head curiously. Triggs suddenly realized she didn’t know about the supposed jinx on the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. “This school hasn’t been able to keep a DADA professor for more than a year in decades! Some say it’s jinxed, others scoff and say it’s just a tough position.”

“What’s your conspiracy theory?” Alice grinned mischievously.

Triggs returned her grin and suddenly leaned forward over his desk as Alice scooted her chair closer.

“Well, the Dark Lord wasn’t always an evil overlord, he used to be a kid and he even graduated from here!” Triggs shared in a hushed tone.

“Spill!” Alice urged, her eyes glinting in excitement. She truly loved Triggs’ theories, which everyone else waved as off crazy conspiracies, but Alice actually thought they made sense.

“Yeah, but even then he showed a certain, shall we say, proclivity for the dark arts. He also loved this school, he came from an orphanage so it was the only home he really knew. I figure, after a few years away from it, he realized he just couldn’t stay away. There are rumors that he wanted this position,” Triggs pointed down to his own desk. “But Dumbledore refused to give it to him and so Voldemort cursed it! If he couldn’t have it no one could!” Triggs leaned back into his chair, nodding knowingly.

“Woah!” Alice breathed, flopping back into her own chair. “What is he? Four years old!” Alice laughed.

“I know, the Petty Lord might be a more accurate title!” Triggs chuckled.

“Who were the professors when you were at school?” Alice asked.

Triggs whistled, leaning back in his chair as his brow furrowed, trying to remember. 

“Well, most are the same, which is really weird for me seeing my old teachers as my peers now,” Triggs chuckled. “McGonagall, Dumbledore, Flitwick, and of course Binns were all teaching back then too. Kettleburn, Babbling, Burbage,” Triggs ticked them off on his fingers. “Potions was taught by Professor Slughorn who was a strange fellow, very bright and a pretty decent teacher but kind of dim about certain things. I can’t for the life of me remember who taught Herbology… it was some kind of tree… Fir? Spruce? Pine? I don’t know, I honestly didn’t pay much attention to that class. Sinistra still taught Astronomy, though she started at Hogwarts when I did. Divination was taught by Professor Clare, who was pretty fun and lively for an old guy, and I mean he was old. I never took Arithmancy so I don’t remember who taught that class. And then of course the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor changed every year,” Triggs grinned before sighing in relief at having remembered almost everyone.

“Do you know who my mother’s favorite teacher was?” Alice asked curiously.

“Hmm, as I recall she was close to McGonagall and Flitwick,” Triggs replied tapping his chin thoughtfully. “Flitwick absolutely adored your mother! He still does and now he has a soft spot for you and your brother too. Nax was practically McGonagall’s protégée, plus McGonagall loves Quidditch and your mum helped Gryffindor win so that only raised her in McGonagall’s eyes,” Triggs smiled.

“You know, Flitwick was the one that came to tell me and Jason that we had magic,” Alice commented. “I really like Professor Flitwick, he’s really nice and his class is always cool!” Alice quirked an eyebrow and looked directly at Triggs. “Why do I seem to get on great with all the Ravenclaw professors?”

Triggs laughed and Alice grinned, though she was actually quite flummoxed by this.

* * *

Christmas morning, Alice needed no help waking up, which was a good thing because she was the only first-year girl left at Hogwarts. Alice seemed to have an automatic alarm clock for holidays that got her up at the crack of dawn. After all, boxes were just waiting for her to viciously tear the wrapping paper off! She had to admit it, she loved getting presents, but opening them was definitely her favorite part—especially if the box had bubble wrap in it!

Alice practically flew down the stairs into the Common Room. Her eyes instantly trained on the Christmas tree against the wall. That night, the floor beneath the tree had been bare, but now there were piles of gifts! Alice rubbed her hands together gleefully before diving in.

“Fred, George, Fred and George,” Alice sorted through the gifts searching for hers. She went ahead and put all of her friends’ gifts into a separate pile so they didn’t have to sort through all the gifts… but on second thought… Alice grinned wickedly.

Well, she finished that and managed to find where all of her gifts were hiding. There were three, of varying sizes, one from her Aunt K, another from her Aunt Beth and cousin Chris, and one from her foster family the Wallace’s. Alice would never quite understand why she and Jason had been relocated to Britain when they had family that she was sure would’ve taken them in. Shrugging the thought off, Alice tore into her presents, her grin widening with every satisfying “Rip!”

The Wallace’s—well, it was signed from all of them but Alice suspected it was mainly just from Margo—gave her an ever-bashing boomerang, a pack of exploding snap cards, and a handful of Cribbage’s Wizard Crackers. Alice had to read the card to figure out what everything was and she smiled mischievously upon reading about the boomerang—that should be fun, though who would her first victim be? Margo was such a nice lady, and her letter was full of encouragement and advice that Alice was grateful for, considering much of this wizard stuff was still new to her.

Upon ripping open the box from Aunt Beth and Alice’s cousin Chris, she nearly burst into tears as it was filled to bursting with American candy. There was some American magic candy like Chocolate Eagles (virtually the same thing as Chocolate Frogs but in the shape of eagles), bon-bon bombs (that supposedly exploded in your mouth? Alice was a bit wary of those), caramel snidgets, Sphinx S’mores, Airheads (which were apparently the inspiration for the Muggle candy of the same name, these of course actually filled your head with hot air that whistled out your ears), and Sour Patch Kids (that were charmed so that they were actually mischievous, when Alice opened up a pack the little candy kids began fighting one another and one even pinched her!). But it was the normal candy that Alice was so grateful to see: Twix, Snickers, Milky Way, Hershey’s bars, Milk Duds, Reese’s cups,  gummy LifeSavers, M&Ms, and Twizzlers.

Alice was already biting into a Twix bar as she dug deeper into the box to find the rest of her presents. Feeling something hard and plastic, Alice pulled out a penknife which had attachments that looked a lot like lock-picking tools. Upon reading the note, that’s exactly what they were for. Alice’s eyes gleamed as she thought of the usefulness of this tool. She dove further into the box to feel cloth down at the bottom. Candy overflowed the box as she pulled out a nice jacket. Alice had just been complaining about not being prepared for the cold here, this was perfect so she immediately put it on. It fit nicely and she stood up and walked over to a mirror on the wall to see how it looked.

Her jaw dropped, but of course, she couldn’t see that in the mirror. Because she was invisible!

Alice shrugged the jacket off and once more came back into view of the mirror. She practically dove for the note from her aunt and cousin, scanning it for an explanation, her heart racing with excitement. The jacket had an invisibility charm on it, which made its wearer invisible! Admittedly, they told her that the charm would gradually wear off so they advised her not to overuse it or it would lose power faster, but this was just a minor flaw to the young girl. Alice was so happy she squealed and jumped up and down, picturing all she could get up to sneaking around after dark while invisible! Her family knew her so well.

Alice had left Aunt K’s gift for last and, munching on a Hershey’s bar, tore the wrapping paper off, revealing a large leather-bound book. It was a family album, a magical family album, _her_ magical family’s album!

It was a while before Alice tore herself away from the moving pictures of her dad’s family to notice the letter and glasses. Alice ‘ooh’ed over the fancy sunglasses and immediately tried them on. Everything went a shade darker and she glanced around through the lenses, but when she gazed out the corner of her eyes, the picture in the glasses completely changed to the wall behind her. 

Alice’s eyes shot back to look straight ahead and once more saw the room in front of her. Biting her tongue in thought, Alice tested it again and looked out the corner of her eye. Once more she saw what was behind her as if it was right before her eyes. Grinning, Alice pulled the sunglasses off and inspected Aunt K’s letter.

_Dear Alice,_

_Did you guess right? Personally I thought my clue kind of gave it away so I expect that you figured it out fairly quickly. Anyway, surprise! You’re a witch and your entire family is too! Luckily, magical family records keep well and I managed to track down all the old family albums and scrapbooks and consolidated them into one big book for you! But if anyone asks you what happened to the pictures of four year-old me at the beach—I have no idea what happened to those! Are they missing? That’s a shame!_

Alice could hear her aunt’s mocking sarcasm, feel her pretend shock, and see the conspiring wink she would then give Alice and Jason.

_I miss you and Jason so so so much I can hardly stand it! Don’t get me wrong, I love South America, it’s beautiful! That’s where I got the sunglasses by the way! Do you like them? They’re rearview sunglasses, they’re charmed so that if you just look out of the corner of your eye you can see what’s behind you. I figured you’d find good use for them!_

_I’m bursting with stories to tell you and Jason. Ordinarily I’d wait for the summer, but I’m weak, and so—surprise!—I’m going to come visit you two in January! Take you out to sight-see and get into trouble! I’m so excited! Can’t wait to see you! I love you!_

_Love,_

_Aunt K_

Alice was squealing with joy! Her aunt was gonna come visit and take them off to amazing places like always! Which, now that Alice knew her aunt was a witch, she now understood how they could take cross-country trips in a single day. That also explained why her dad would scold Aunt K for her trips—he was worried the kids would figure out that it was impossible to travel hundreds of miles in just ten minutes.

She finally made her way down to the Great Hall to find Jason sitting at the table waiting for her. He had a bag stuffed with unopened presents sitting on the bench next to him. When he saw Alice toying with her gifts he threw his hands up into the air.

“You already opened them! I thought that we would open our gifts together!” Jason exclaimed in frustration as Alice came and sat down across from him. Alice slammed her hands on the table.

“You know I can’t wait that long!” she shouted. They stared each other down for a moment before Jason shrugged, conceding her point. He did dramatically sigh though as he pulled out his own presents.

“I guess I’ll just have to open my presents alone then,” he grumbled, smirking at Alice across the table.

“I can help!” Alice offered excitedly, standing up and practically leaping over the table reaching for his bag of presents. Jason swatted her away. She plopped back into her seat and pouted. 

Jason smirked and held her gaze as he settled the box in his lap. Staring straight into her eyes, Jason raised an eyebrow as he ripped a strip of wrapping paper off. Alice tensed, leaning towards the sound. She wanted to rip the wrapping paper so bad! She glared at Jason who simply grabbed another end and tore it slowly from the box. Alice grabbed up a biscuit and chucked it at him. Jason ducked it, chuckling, but gave up the show and tore into his present. He tossed the envelope towards Alice as he opened the box.

Alice ripped open the envelope and took out the folded letter. Unfolding it, she cleared her throat dramatically and began to read.

“ _Dear Jason,_ ”

“Ooh! This one’s from the Wallace’s!” Alice interjected her own dramatic reading. Upon this realization she altered her voice to a lighter, feminine voice that sounded nothing like Mrs. Wallace but Jason got what she was going for.

“ _I’m glad to hear you’re doing so well in school! I knew you’d be a natural at Transfiguration, my brother was the same way. I’m glad to hear that Alice is finding her niche and making friends—“_

Alice glared over at Jason.

“You write Mrs. Wallace and you talk about _me_?” she demanded.

“She asks about how you’re doing, so I tell her, since _you_ don’t write!” Jason pointed out. Alice stuck her tongue out at Jason, who responded in kind, before returning her attention to the letter.

“Something about me, blah, blah, blah, nice stuff, ooh! You told her about Cho?” Alice leaned over the table at Jason and winked teasingly. Jason pulled out a pack of Cribbage’s Wizard Crackers, glaring at Alice.

“Shut up and read!” Jason snapped tossing a biscuit at Alice, but he couldn’t hide his slight smirk.

“ _Anyway, remember those bands we were talking about? Well, I decided to expand your musical tastes into the wizarding world!”_

Jason pulled out an album featuring a group of hairy men in ripped black robes, with “Weird Sisters” written across the cover.

“But they’re all guys!” Jason smirked to Alice. She scoffed and rolled her eyes.

“Queen was an all-guy band too!” Alice retorted haughtily. Jason shrugged.

“ _I was going to get you one of the Hobgoblins albums but they broke up and I wasn’t able to track down any of theirs, but I thought you’d also like the Weird Sisters. They have a bagpipe in there, which is a bit surprising at first, but it makes for an interesting sound! I also spent a lot of time looking through American wizard bands—there are tons by the way! I was a bit overwhelmed but finally settled on one band, Old Salem, that’s supposedly amazing! I listened to a few of their songs and I quite liked them! Anyway, I hope you enjoy and wish you luck on the rest of the semester! Hope to hear back from you soon!”_

Jason peeled himself away from inspecting the back of the Weird Sisters album to pull out the Old Salem album. The twins’ eyes grew wide and Alice made a lunge for the album, snatching it from Jason’s shock-slackened grip before he could react.

“No way! Dad had this album! He never let us listen to it!” Alice exclaimed.

“Hey! Give it back!” Jason reached over the table, but Alice held the album just out of his reach, having to turn her head to read it.

“No wonder, they have a song called ‘Your Magic Wand’ and I don’t think it’s talking about these kinds!” Alice smirked pulling her wand from her ponytail. 

Jason made a lunge for the album and Alice teased him once more before handing it back to him. Jason’s eyes scanned the record, seemingly memorizing every detail. As he peered at the back, Alice got a good look at the front cover, which she thought was much more artistic than that of the Weird Sisters. It depicted an old ghost town in black and gray, the moon a blood red shining down on five black shapes. A sign on a building gave the album’s name and artist, reading ‘Old Salem Justice Hall.’

“Okay, next present!” Alice prodded Jason.

He reluctantly set the album aside and pulled out the next present. Alice recognized the wrapping paper, this gift was from Aunt K. Alice flung herself across the table and ripped the present out of her brother’s hands before he could open it.

“No!” she screamed and pulled it back to her. “This one last,” she ordered, setting it on her side of the table and sitting back down. Jason raised an eyebrow at her, but pulled out the other present.

Jason ripped the wrapping paper off, then moved to the box. Alice grinned knowingly as Jason’s eyes shone in a mirror reaction to her earlier one. He pulled out a handful of American candy, his face beaming like he’d just found buried treasure. After a minute of celebration, Jason dove back into the box and pulled out another box. This he quickly opened and his jaw dropped.

Alice stood up to peer over at this new discovery. Upon seeing it she shrugged and plopped back down on the bench. Jason, however, was holding it up like he’d just found the lost Ark. It was an astronomical model—and a nice one too, with the planets and constellations all suspended and moving in real-time, with a date and time option that could be manipulated so you could see the positions at any point in the past or future. Alice much preferred her gifts.

“Hey can I do my Astronomy work with you from now on?” Alice smirked.

Jason perused the letter from Chris and Aunt Beth and tore open a bag of Skittles before retrieving the last gift from next to Alice. He read Aunt K’s letter and passed it on to Alice—it was much the same as the letter to her, except that Aunt K and Jason shared different inside jokes than she and Alice. Since he read the letter first, Jason went straight to the sunglasses and tried them out. His were zoom-in sunglasses, so that just by squinting his eyes he could spot a Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Bean out in a plant in the entry hall. Alice thought that these would be useful too, but hers were probably better adapted to sneaking around and avoiding capture.

Setting the glasses down, Jason then unwrapped the larger present. As he pulled out a large, ancient-looking, leather-bound book his eyes gleamed. A huge grin splitting his face, he held the book up, turning it around for Alice to see.

There was a large crest embossed on the cover; sporting a pointing hound, but of course since it was magical the leaves fluttered and the hound would wag his tail and lift his head back to howl. The crest looked like a more traditional version of Aunt K’s seal. The title read “A Genealogy of the Great McConnen Line.” 

Alice grinned and bolted from her seat to rush around the table and crowd next to Jason. He lifted the heavy cover and the twins’ jaws gaped open. They weren’t quite sure what they had expected of their magical family tree, but they certainly hadn’t thought it to be quite this extensive and elaborate. Alice had to blink multiple times to adjust her eyes to the multitude of faintly moving tiny portraits of her ancestors.

“How many pages is it?” Alice asked, daunted.

“Two-hundred,” Jason gulped. Alice’s eyes widened.

“But, it’s pretty descriptive! So it’s probably just like one or two generations a page because of all the details about each person,” Alice explained, a bit frantically. Jason merely nodded, too stunned to speak. “Why don’t we start from the present and work our way back?” Alice proposed.

Jason didn’t respond but flipped back to the last few pages. He stopped when he found their names along with Chris’ at the bottom layer. Following the line back up from their own names to their parents, Alice’s eyes softened as a picture of her father, lines beginning to form in the corners of his eyes, smiled up at her. He glanced over to his left where a picture of her mother grinned cheerily up at them. Alice cleared her throat.

“Changed my mind, let’s go back to the front,” Alice said and flipped back to the front of the book. Jason narrowed his eyes at her, but didn’t say anything. “Ooh! A warlord!” Alice exclaimed zeroing in on a fierce-looking man wearing furs.

The twins investigated the genealogy book for a few minutes, laughing at ancestors such as “Ulmer the Uncannily Clumsy” whose picture seemed to be dropping everything and randomly tripping. Fred and George interrupted them however, coming down and sitting across from the twins.

The two pairs excitedly showed off their new presents. The Connens practically forced some of their favorite candies down the Weasleys’ throats, horrified that the boys had never had Twix bars before! Much to the Connens’ shock, Fred and George claimed the chocolate was too bitter! This was simply blasphemy to Alice!

“Hey! You haven’t opened your crackers yet!” George pointed out, finding Alice’s sitting on the table. “They have prizes you know!”

“What are crackers? I’m assuming they’re not like saltines or anything,” Alice said.

Fred’s hand hovered in front of his open mouth, his Twizzler dangling limply from his hand. George blinked repeatedly before shaking his head. 

“They’re things with prizes in them! You pull them to pop them open and there’s something inside! You’ve never had crackers before? They’re a holiday staple!” Fred demanded in shock.

“Not in America they’re not!” Alice stated.

“Ugh!” George exclaimed in disgust. “Here! Here,” he grabbed up Alice’s  and Jason’s Cribbage’s Wizard Crackers, holding one in each hand and offering the other end to their respective owners. “You grab the end and pull to pop it open.”

Jason and Alice took the ends and with just a look, the twins simultaneously pulled back hard. The crackers snapped open with a pop and the kids went straight to see what they got.

Alice pulled out a wizard chess set. Glancing up, she saw her disappointed look mirrored on Jason’s face as he gazed down at his. Alice caught sight of his prize: a grow-your-own-warts kit. Alice didn’t understand why he was upset, that was a cool prize. Jason seemed to be thinking the same about her and their eyes met.

“Trade,” they stated in sync and immediately exchanged prizes, grinning.


	14. My Professor is Going to get Me Expelled

A round-faced baby girl peered up at Alice from the page. Cake and icing covered the child’s face, head, and arms, but the child just grinned and happily started mashing her little fists into the remaining bits and smears of cake. The next picture over, a little boy, about four years old with brown hair that curled at the ends, leaned over to the baby girl. The baby flung a piece of icing-covered cake straight into the boy’s face. The boy glowered and seemed to whine at someone outside of the shot as the baby laughed and a ten year-old boy doubled over in the background.

Even as little kids, Alice’s family was crazy.

Moving away from the pictures of Aunt K’s first birthday, she flipped through the family album. She passed beach trips, birthday parties, holidays, and first days of school. There were few pictures of Aunt K as a pre-teen, at which Alice smirked knowing that Kensington had probably burned every trace of her awkward years. There were plenty of pictures of her father’s awkward years though!

Alice figured that she and Jason must’ve gotten their looks from their mom, because all of the Connen children went through awkward stages—very awkward stages. A thirteen year-old Matt Connen looked up at Alice: a mouth full of braces, acne covering his face, a pair of bushy eyebrows dominating his features, and a quirky smile that showed all of his teeth. Luckily Matt grew out of this phase and became much more attractive, or Alice probably wouldn’t be around now.

The album also contained pictures of her mom’s family. Alice had to do a double take upon seeing a picture of a young Nax playing with Kensington because she could’ve sworn it was a picture of herself. She was really starting to understand why everyone recognized her right away. She had to really look to notice the slight differences between herself and her mother: the tip of Nax’s nose turned up a bit while Alice’s was more pointed, Nax had a soft jawline while Alice’s was quite prominent, and Nax’s eyes were a tiny bit closer together than Alice’s. Other than that, the two had nearly identical facial structures.

As the pictures of Nax progressed in age, Alice saw more people from Hogwarts. James Potter, Sirius Black, and Lily Evans were in many pictures with her mom, but Alice found a picture with Triggs in it! Another picture showed her mother standing and smiling with the Headmaster, Dumbledore. Finally, Alice came upon a large group photo containing the Potters, her mother and Sirius, the Weasleys, Triggs, and Dumbledore. Alice just knew this must be the Order Triggs had been talking about.

Setting her jaw, Alice firmly closed the album and placed it on her nightstand. She plucked up her invisibility jacket and determinedly left the dormitory.

It was after hours as Alice, hidden by the charmed invisibility jacket, walked the darkened halls of the castle. She really enjoyed not having to sneak from alcove to alcove and hide at every noise for fear Filch would spring on her. The only issue really was trying to muffle her footsteps. When she wasn’t sneaking, Alice walked quite loudly so she was struggling to keep her disembodied footsteps from echoing throughout the halls.

Not bothering to knock, Alice flung open the door to Triggs’ office and stomped inside. Triggs jumped, hefting the battle axe he had just been polishing when the door flew open of its own accord. Alice walked right up to him.

“This is me demanding some answers!” Alice stated.

Triggs seemed to jump out of his skin and Alice had to hastily duck to avoid her head being severed by a wild swing from her professor. Triggs was glaring around frantically searching for the intruder. It was then that Alice remembered she hadn’t taken off her jacket: he couldn’t see her.

Heaving a suffering sigh, Alice shrugged off her jacket. She was amused at the startled look on Triggs’ face at her sudden appearance. He dropped the axe and his entire body relaxed.

“What the hell was that?” Triggs demanded.

“Sorry, invisibility jacket,” Alice shrugged. “Anyway! My curiosity can’t take it anymore, I need all the info you’ve got on this Order you and my mom were in.”

“The Order?” Triggs asked, a little confused as the topic seemed to come up out of nowhere. Alice shrugged her shoulders.

“I know you guys fought the Death Eaters, but what exactly does that entail? Who all was in it and what did they do? What happened to everyone? Is it still around?”

“Alice, I’d love to tell you, really I would!” Triggs insisted at the suspicious raise of Alice’s eyebrow. “But I can’t. Physically, I can’t tell you anything about it, beyond the summary. That information is protected by a charm,” Triggs explained.

Alice narrowed her eyes, staring Triggs down to see if he was lying and would break and tell her. He wasn’t lying, and he didn’t break. Alice’s face fell and she went over and slumped into the chair in front of the desk. Triggs’ shoulders stiffened as he gazed at the girl who was trying to get more information about her missing mother. He would do the same in her place. Well, he would actually probably do more. 

Triggs’ eyes widened with a sudden thought. It was a terrible idea, absolutely awful! But it could work!

All the tension in his body vanished and he sprung over to Alice. Grabbing up her hand, he pulled her from the chair and whisked her out the door.

“I can’t tell you! But I know how you can learn about it!” Triggs said excitedly as he towed Alice along behind him.

He heard footsteps and saw a faint light growing brighter down the corridor and hurriedly ducked into an alcove, pulling Alice along behind him. She practically fell into the alcove and glared up at him.

“What is going on!” she demanded. Triggs shushed her just as the source of the light came into view.

It was Filch with his lantern, shining it into the alcoves, looking for any students hiding out after hours. Alice pressed further into the alcove, seemingly trying to merge her body with the stonework. Triggs however peeked out at Filch. He raised his wand to his throat and mouthed some words.

“Argus!” Dumbledore’s voice called out at the other end of the corridor.

“Headmaster!” Filch nearly leapt out of his skin and turned around.

Triggs mouthed words again.

“Argus, come quickly!” Dumbledore called from the distant end of the corridor.

“I’m coming, sir!” Filch hollered and began shuffling as fast as he could back the way he came.

Triggs poked his head out of the alcove and watched as Filch hustled off. Triggs crept out of the alcove, waving for Alice to follow him. They crept away before rushing off once Filch was out of sight.

“That was you,” Alice said, a bit out of breath after running down the corridors. It wasn’t a question. She didn’t know what spell Triggs had used, or how he had done it without an incantation, but she knew that Triggs had made his voice sound like Dumbledore’s and throw it down the corridor. Triggs just grinned at her.

“I may have done a bit of spy work in my day!”

Triggs led her up to the seventh floor and they stopped before a statue of a gargoyle.

“Peppermint humbug,” Triggs told the gargoyle. The gargoyle leapt aside and the wall behind it split into two and opened to reveal a spiral staircase. The steps moved up like an escalator and Triggs led Alice onto them before leaning over to her. “This is the entrance to the Headmaster’s office,” he explained.

Alice’s eyes grew wide. Now, she was a trouble-maker and a rule-breaker, but she had her limits! Sneaking out after hours or going past boundaries was one thing, but breaking into the Headmaster’s office to find information was _bad_. Alice dropped her shoulders and turned around to head back down the staircase. Triggs grabbed her and pulled her back up.

“Why are we breaking into the Headmaster’s office? This is bad! I’m gonna get into so much trouble! You’re probably gonna get fired! This is—“ Alice was freaking out but Triggs again shushed her.

“I can’t tell you about the Order, but I think you have a right to know about your mother and this is the only way you can find out more about the Order and about her. Dumbledore will surely have something in his office that can help you learn more about both. And we’ll only get in trouble if we get caught!” Triggs smirked.

Alice glared at him, but didn’t try to leave. Of course, that was partly because it was rather tough to go down an up escalator with one’s dignity in tact, and because she was safer with Triggs than out after hours alone. If they did get caught she could always blame it all on him. Not that she would though, he was her favorite professor and she wouldn’t want to get him fired.

The staircase stopped and left them in front of a polished oak door with a brass knocker in the shape of a griffin. Triggs didn’t bother with the knocker of course though, and quietly opened the door.

The room was large, beautiful, and circular, with lots of tall windows letting the stars and moonlight shine through.

“What if he’s in here?” Alice whispered, trailing close behind Triggs as they entered the office. Triggs shushed her and pointed to the paintings on the wall. Their subjects were sleeping and Alice got the message: don’t wake up the guard dogs.

“He’s not, he’s downstairs playing cards with Flitwick,” Triggs replied in a hushed voice.

On the wall opposite the portraits was a large fireplace as well as many shelves and cabinets. The wall directly in front of them had shelves above a huge claw-footed desk. A beautiful sword with rubies in the hilt sat in a glass case on the shelf behind the desk. Next to the sword sat an old, tattered hat which Alice recognized as the Sorting Hat.

There were a number of tables with spindly legs throughout the room. Strange silver instruments sat atop each, whirring and emitting little puffs of smoke. Alice gazed curiously at these, but as Triggs continued on over to inspect a cabinet, Alice rushed to follow after him.

“What are we looking for?” she breathed, casting furtive glances to the sleeping portraits.

“Memory or mind devices, I can’t tell you about it, but if you saw my memories you would have some information though you wouldn’t really know what it was,” Triggs mumbled, his voice barely over a breath. “Go look in that cabinet for anything weird-looking,” Triggs waved over to a black cabinet behind the door.

“Everything in here is weird-looking,” Alice grumbled as she trudged over to the directed cabinet. 

She pulled open the cabinet door and stared into it in awe. A large, shallow stone basin with runes carved around the edge sat on a shelf within the cabinet. The sides of the cabinet had dozens of shelves holding hundreds of vials containing silvery, cloud-like substances swirling around.

“Uh, is this weird enough?” Alice called softly back to Triggs.

Triggs came over and his eyes shone.

“A Pensieve! That’s better than I was hoping for! This might actually work despite the Fidelius Charm,” Triggs commented to himself.

“The Fiddle-what-now?” Alice asked, but Triggs didn’t seem to notice.

“All we need is some of your mom’s memories!” Triggs muttered before turning to Alice grinning. “With this, you can actually watch your mom’s past!”

Alice’s face beamed.

“Cool! How do we get some of my mom’s memories?” Alice asked excitedly.

Triggs’ face fell. He tapped his finger against his chin.

“Yeah, hmm, forgot about that minor detail,” he remarked a bit sheepishly. Alice rolled her eyes.

“Second shelf on the left,” a soft voice said.

Alice and Triggs spun around, each assuming perfectly innocent expressions. Each had experience with getting caught and getting out of it, though they doubted they could come up with an excuse for this particular situation. Headmaster Dumbledore stood behind them with a kindly smile on his face.

“Third vial from the back,” Dumbledore added, nodding back to the Pensieve.

“Headmaster, we were just—“ Triggs began, a bit shakily.

“Trying to find a way around the Fidelius Charm protecting the Order of the Phoenix so that Alice can learn more about her mother,” Dumbledore supplied nonchalantly. “That will not be necessary, as I’ve just mentioned it to her so she can now be told about it.”

“Headmaster, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have—“ again Dumbledore cut Triggs off, holding up a hand to silence him.

“Apologies are unnecessary, Professor. I should have told Miss Connen about her mother long before now. Professor, if you would go retrieve young Mr. Connen, I believe I have some long over-due explanations for the twins.”

“Yes, of course, Headmaster,” Triggs replied and hurried out the door, leaving Alice alone with the Headmaster.

Alice glanced up at Dumbledore guiltily. She opened her mouth to apologize, but Dumbledore stopped her with a raised hand and a smile.

“Again, apologies are not necessary. You were simply seeking information of a long lost loved one. I cannot blame you for that. Although I do expect that this particular course of action was devised by Professor Triggs,” Dumbledore raised an eyebrow at Alice as he settled into a chair. She nodded. “He is a gentle soul. He also feels responsible for you. The man has a bad tendency of taking any loss or mistake of others upon as his own fault, thus weighing the man down with guilt he shouldn’t have. He did that with your mother’s disappearance, and so is trying to relieve some of that guilt by helping you.”

Alice glanced over at the Sorting Hat, thinking back on when she first got here and was introduced to all the mystery surrounding her mother. For most of her life she had just assumed her mom died or abandoned them, and that was all there was to it. She had been a normal woman with a normal past and a normal family. Now all Alice seemed to know about her mom led to mysteries and more questions. But here stood the man who, out of anyone, could probably give her some answers.

“So, Order of the Phoenix,” Alice began, gulping hard. “What did my mom do?”

“Your mother was—well, the best word would probably be ‘soldier.’ She fought Death Eaters and even faced the Dark Lord a couple times. She was quite skilled at strategy and thus most of her missions suffered minimal casualties. However, Voldemort’s forces were seeking help from many different sources and we received word they were going overseas. Due to your mother’s ties in the United States, I sent her over there to work against the dark forces. She was quite successful, but even if she wasn’t she had nothing to fear from settling down with your father as she was marrying into a very powerful and loyal wizarding family,” Dumbledore explained kindly.

The Headmaster always seemed to have a twinkle in his eye and a tone that made one feel comfortable in his presence. Alice felt like she could ask him anything, so she asked the biggest question she had in mind.

“Why are me and Jason here? I mean, why Hogwarts when we lived in America. And even after our dad died, we could’ve stayed with one of our aunts and still gone to school there,” Alice asked. Dumbledore smiled at her as if he had been waiting for this question all year.

“Most wizarding schools are regional, providing an education to children within a certain area, such as the American East Coast, or Western Africa. However, our admission is based entirely upon a book wherein a magical quill records the names of certain witches and wizards when they are born. Before each school year, this book is consulted, and all the children that are eleven are invited to school. This quill had always recorded the names of children born in the United Kingdom and Ireland; until you and your brother that is,”

Dumbledore paused at this point and, with perfect timing, a knock sounded from the door. 

“Come in,” Dumbledore called, turning his attention to the door, where Triggs and Jason stepped in. “Mister Connen, come, sit!” Dumbledore ushered Jason over and the boy took a seat near his sister. “Thank you, Professor, you may return to your office now,” Dumbledore said, dismissing Triggs. Triggs nodded and left quietly. Alice, being the only one still standing, sat down in a seat next to Jason, which she swore hadn’t been there when she first came in with Triggs.

“Mister Connen, I was just explaining to your sister about your unusual admission to this school. I believe you are aware of how we determine our student classes?” Dumbledore asked, though by his smile Alice suspected he already knew the answer.

“The magical quill marking down names when magical children are born? Yes, of course,” Jason replied, his face having lit up upon realizing he would be getting some answers.

“I thought so. Well, you two were the first magical children that quill had ever written down that were not born in the United Kingdom. Some claimed it was simply a mistake since your mother had attended here, and they were willing to simply ignore it and let you attend an American school. I did not believe it to be a fluke. After all, the magical quill was set into place by the Hogwarts founders, the greatest witches and wizards of their age. So I did some investigating and firstly contacted the American school in your region. They had a similar method of admission and I was not at all surprised to find that you two were not on their list,”

Jason glanced over to Alice, who raised her brows mockingly surprised. Jason smirked and they both returned their attention to Dumbledore, whose lips quirked upon watching the exchange. He continued on.

“Now, upon my informing them of this strange occurrence, the school of course was prepared to add you to their list manually. I asked them not to. This was not simply a mistake to be corrected, this had a reason. I believe part of it had something to do with your mother having attended here as generations are often listed in the book. But I also believe that as the quill is magical, it can foresee events and respond to them, so that it knew about your move over here, as well as your future that none of us as yet can know. Perhaps you are supposed to do great things here that you could not have done in America.”

At this Dumbledore glanced over to the open cabinet where the silvery substances within the vials swirled and glowed. He shook his head slightly and returned his piercing blue gaze onto the twins when Alice spoke out.

“But even if it knew about our being orphaned, we had family that would’ve taken us in! I know that Aunt K, or even Aunt Beth, would have taken us in! Why didn’t they?” Alice demanded.

“Aunt Beth has a son, and Aunt K travels so much—“ Jason began his automatic response but Dumbledore stopped him.

“I was the reason for that actually. I was of course remaining in contact with your mother as she was working for me, so I told her about your names appearing in the book. I kept a close watch on your family, even after your mother disappeared. Both your aunts were in fact willing to take you in, your Aunt Kensington was especially passionate about keeping you two. However, I knew that should your aunt take custody of you two she would send you to school in the States. I saw this as a pivotal moment and I was determined to follow my instincts and ensure you two ended up here, so I convinced your aunt to allow you two to be sent overseas, as the school board was insistent that only children living in the UK could attend. I specially chose the Wallace’s because of Margo’s connection to the wizarding world and I knew you would be well taken care of. I assured Kensington that after you lived in the UK for two years she could then take you off with her unofficially becoming your guardian because you would be legal residents of the UK and thus the school board would be appeased. I believe she is already making plans for your summer break,” Dumbledore grinned.

Alice could follow Dumbledore’s reasoning, though she suspected he had other reasons for wanting them here than he had divulged. Maybe he had a similar tendency as Triggs and felt this was his way of making up for whatever happened to Nax, by taking care of her children. Jason was completely satisfied with this answer, the actions appeared logical even if the reasoning was based on hunches. Alice suspected the part about them doing great things here had something to do with Jason’s easy acceptance as she recalled Ollivander saying something about him seeking a greater purpose.

“Triggs said you had something to show us,” Jason said.

“Yes, of course,” Dumbledore rose from his seat and proceeded over to the Pensieve, ushering for them to join him by it.

“There was a mission, where your mother was in danger of being caught by Death Eaters. She didn’t want them to get hold of certain information, so she asked me to take some of her memories. I returned them to her after the mission was completed, but she refused a few of them, saying it was better she didn’t have them. These I kept, and would show them to you if you wish,” Dumbledore said, already retrieving a vial from a shelf.

“Yes,” Alice replied without hesitation.

Dumbledore uncorked the vial and tipped the contents into the basin. The silvery mist flowed into the basin and swirled unceasingly. Dumbledore stirred the silvery light with his wand and it glowed brightly. He turned back to the twins.

“By touching the substance, we will be—transported—into your mother’s memory. This is a factual replay of events she experienced, which we will witness as invisible observers. This is the past so we cannot interact with it, but it will seem very real. I will come with you, now are you ready? We simply need to touch the substance,” Dumbledore explained.

Jason and Alice nodded and held their hands out above the basin. The three lowered their hands into the swirling silvery light.

Alice was falling… or floating… or sinking, or something of that strange sensation of movement without control over it. She couldn’t make out anything distinct around her, just a bunch of swirly mist. She grimly thought that this seemed very similar to the story of Alice in Wonderland when she falls down the rabbit hole—the irony was not lost on her.

She landed abruptly in a candle-lit room. People were arguing heatedly and slamming their hands down on a large table that sat in the room in front of Alice. Glancing to her right she saw Jason gaping in astonishment. Dumbledore stood to her left, a slight down turn at the edges of his mouth.

“It’s a suicide mission Nax!” a man with dark, messy hair and glasses shouted angrily.

“No, James, it’s not! They don’t know we have this information. Triggs—“ a twenty year-old Nax turned to a younger version of the twins’ professor. He didn’t have as many scars or lines on his face and his hair was short, but other than that Triggs looked much the same. “You said no one saw you.”

“You’re insulting me if you think that,” Triggs scoffed with a smirk, but his eyes were lacking his usual cheerful gleam.

“It doesn’t matter if they know we’re coming or not! This is a meeting of the highest ranking Death Eaters, including their leader for bloody sake! This is not a group we can take by surprise!” James exclaimed. He was breathing heavy and Lily placed a hand on his arm to calm him down. He caught her eye and took a deep breath. “Nax, you may think you’re invincible, but you’re not!”

“I never said I thought I was invincible, just lucky,” Nax grinned, but her eyes didn’t reflect it. “I know this is dangerous,” Sirius scoffed but Nax ignored him. “And there will be casualties, but this could be the last battle! With one single assault, we could end the fighting! I for one am willing to take that risk,” Nax stared down all the people present who either rolled their eyes or nervously avoided her gaze.

“And even if this mission isn’t approved, you’ll do it anyway,” a man with light brown, shaggy hair commented. He grinned slightly at Nax and she returned it, shrugging. 

The man wore shabby clothing that had seen better days and he looked exhausted. All of them did for that matter. Nax’s hair was in a messy bun with strands sticking out at every angle and she had bags under her eyes. James’ hair was sticking up from him constantly running his hands through it and was sagging against the table even as he bristled with anger. Lily was quiet and her eyes were red. Sirius appeared at ease, but the bags under his eyes betrayed him. The others, Alice didn’t recognize, looked much the same.

“Lupin’s right, so really our only options are to let Nax go on her own and get herself killed, or to send her with some back up,” an older man, with numerous scars and an unnatural blue eye that moved around independent of the other, growled.

“Knowing Nax she’d succeed, and then she’d get all the glory! I for one think her ego needs to be taken down a notch or two,” Sirius grinned and winked at Nax, who laughed. “I’m in.”

“Settle down,” a soft, recognizable voice called from behind Alice, making everyone turn to look past her.

Alice was startled by the voice, but also by everyone looking over at her. She briefly forgot that Dumbledore had said they would be invisible. Turning around, her mouth dropped as a younger Dumbledore walked up a hallway straight towards her. His hair was gray, not quite snowy white yet, but the most distinguishing aspect was that his usual kindly and winsome attitude was replaced with one of somber authority. The younger Dumbledore stepped straight through the twins and their Dumbledore as if they were ghosts. Which Alice considered they might as well be.

“Dumbledore,” James looked up at him in relief. “Tell them this is insane!”

“I’m afraid I cannot James,” Dumbledore replied. James’ face fell and Nax tried to hide her smirk. “I’m afraid neither can I fully support this plan either,” Nax’s smirk fell.

“But Dumbledore, you’ve seen my proposal! If we catch them off guard for just one second that’s all we need!” Nax explained.

“I have learned from experience that I cannot keep you from doing anything you’ve set your mind to, Nax,” he said with what could be interpreted as an affectionate glance to Nax. “But I believe as large a force as your requesting would do more harm than good. More bodies means more casualties which would be unnecessary when the mission could be accomplished with a smaller infiltration team. Also, due to the danger of the mission, I will not assign anyone to it, they must volunteer.”

“Well, I’m going,” Nax stated.

“Already threw my hat in too,” Sirius added.

“I’ll go,”

“And me,” a young man with dirty blonde hair and warm brown eyes volunteered.

“Aww man, Stewart, I’m not gonna let you hog all the glory!” another man laughed, ruffling the blonde man’s hair.

“Me too,” Lily said with a glance at James who clenched his jaw angrily.

Nax, Sirius, Lily, and Lupin were all watching James closely. The veins standing out against his neck showed his internal conflict. He stared down at the table, hiding his face from his friends. Finally he clenched his hands into fists and looked up at them, staring Nax in the eye.

“Someone’s gotta keep you guys out of trouble,” he grumbled.

The scene before them dissolved into a different meeting. This room featured a group of men and women in black sitting at a long table. Alice hadn’t imagined people could really _look_ like the embodiment of evil, but this group proved her wrong. She didn’t need Dumbledore’s explanation to tell her that this was a meeting of Death Eaters. 

At the head of the table sat a man that looked like he’d come straight from the world of nightmares. He was bald, his skin a pallid grey, and had no nose—just slits for nostrils like a snake. His eyes were blood red and the pupils were also slits like a cat or a snake. Alice also didn’t need Dumbledore to tell her this man was the Dark Lord, Voldemort.

The Death Eaters were discussing giants, but before Alice could really catch up with the conversation, seven figures appeared around the table with loud cracks. Voices shouted out spells and flashes of color raced from the seven wands at the Death Eaters assembled who hadn’t yet recovered from the surprise.

One woman, with wild black hair and a manic laugh was the first to respond, even as several of her comrades fell to the attacking forces. This woman leapt upon the table and shrieked, sending a blast of green right at Lily. Nax tackled Lily out of the way of the spell and the women quickly rolled back up to their feet and faced their attacker. Lily sent a blue flash at the woman, but she repelled it effortlessly. However, Lily’s spell had been a distraction as Nax sent a white flash directly on its heels. The woman couldn’t recover from repelling the first attack in time to dispel this second one and was thrown backwards off the table where she lay unconscious on the floor.

Alice could hardly keep track of her mother as bright flashes of color careened from every angle. She involuntarily ducked a green blast before remembering that she wasn’t really here and the spell thus couldn’t affect her. She followed the green flash and gasped as it hit an Order member who crumpled to the floor lifeless. However, several Death Eaters had also fallen and an Order member gathered a group of unconscious and immobilized Death Eaters and popped out of sight.

As the combatants decreased in number, Alice finally caught sight of her mother again. She flung a white-blonde man back and he hit the wall hard. James and Sirius suddenly flew right past her, flung back by a spell from the Dark Lord. Nax immediately turned her attention to Voldemort who was raising his wand to finish off an Order member.

“Avada Kedavra!” Nax shouted, the first spell she had actually performed verbally.

A green flash hurtled towards the Dark Lord, whose attention was elsewhere. However, he caught the light out of the corner of his eye and flicked his wand at it. The green light ricocheted back like it had hit a wall and careened off to the right. The flash struck a blonde-haired young man in the chest. He fell to the floor in a heap.

“Jason!” Nax roared. She flung a blast at Voldemort and, covered by this distraction, bolted for the blonde man’s body. “Retreat!” she ordered over the chaos.

The Order members disappeared with slight pops as Nax grabbed hold of the blonde man’s body and they both disappeared.

Alice, Jason, and Dumbledore followed Nax through darkness where they felt like they were being pulled from every direction and then squeezed through tiny tubes before finally landing back in the first candle-lit room. Nax was clutching onto the blonde man’s body, her entire body shaking. Sirius came over to her and grabbed her shoulders, trying to gently pull her away from the corpse.

“No!” Nax roared and pushed him away. She dug her hands into the young man’s shirt before burying her head into his chest.

Sirius, his face drawn, turned to James and Lily who were just turning to see the sight. James put a hand on Sirius’ shoulder and drew him into a tight hug. Lily choked and turned away. Another Order member Alice didn’t recognize came into the room in a rush. He couldn’t see the body behind the small crowd.

“Who is it?” he asked breathlessly. It was Lupin who turned to him.

“Jason Stewart,” he said in a hoarse voice.

The man shook his head and covered his eyes with a hand. He heaved a sigh which set his shoulders to quivering, before lowering his hand and raising his eyes. He pushed through the crowd and knelt down beside the body, which Nax was still clutching to.

“I killed him,” Nax whispered brokenly into Stewart’s chest.

“No! It wasn’t you. It was the Dark Lord!” Sirius stated angrily, tears burning in his eyes. He stepped over to Nax who rose to her feet angrily.

“It was my Killing Curse! It was mine that struck him! I did it! I killed—“ Nax’s hysterics were cut off as Sirius crushed her into an embrace. She tried to push him away but gave up and sobbed into his shirt.

A woman went over to the body and closed the sightless eyes. She smoothed the clothes and brushed back the hair away from the face. She turned to look up to Dumbledore who had appeared in a doorway on the other side of the room.

“His family are Muggles, sir. How should we proceed?” she asked the past Dumbledore.

“They are aware of his doings. Tell them the truth, he died bravely, fighting for a better world,” Dumbledore replied. The woman nodded and grasped a cold hand, but Dumbledore stopped her before she disappeared. “Make sure to tell his sister that I’m sorry.”

Alice and Jason’s Dumbledore cleared his throat. 

The room began to dissolve and after a brief rushing sensation, Alice, Jason, and Dumbledore were returned to the Headmaster’s office. Dumbledore waved his wand over the silvery mist and directed it back into its vial. He stoppered it and put it back on the shelf before even glancing at the twins.

“Sir, that young man, Jason Stewart… how long ago was that?” Jason asked hesitantly.

“Twelve years ago,” Dumbledore replied, grief tinging his voice. Jason nodded as if he had suspected as much. “You are correct in your guess, Mr. Connen. That was Margo Wallace, your guardian’s brother.”

“Mom named you after a guy she killed that just happened to be Margo’s brother?!” Alice demanded.

“She did not kill him,” Dumbledore interjected sternly.

“It was her spell that rebounded and hit him!” Alice returned.

“No. She tried to take out Voldemort and he redirected her spell at Jason. Willamena did not kill Mr. Stewart,” Dumbledore stated, a fierce gleam in his eyes.

Alice took a step back. Dumbledore sighed and his frame seemed to fall. He pinched the bridge of his nose before turning back to her.

“I am sorry, Alice,” he said kindly. “It is just that your mother was nearly broken by the guilt she felt over that incident. She blamed herself and it was only when I removed that memory that she was able to move on. Maybe I should’ve started you two off on an easier memory,” he remarked with a slight smirk.

“So, you have more?” Alice asked quietly. She was a bit struck by that memory, but her curiosity urged her to view more.

“I do, but it is very late, perhaps we should view them at a later date,” Dumbledore refused gently. Alice rolled her eyes; it wasn’t even midnight yet. She suspected Dumbledore was purposefully delaying their seeing further memories, but for what reason she didn’t know. Maybe because he couldn’t quite remember which ones he had and wanted to figure out which were more upsetting.

“Fine,” Alice grumbled, though she smiled shamefacedly at Dumbledore in apology for her rudeness. 

“Goodnight, Headmaster,” Jason said as Dumbledore herded them towards the door.

“Goodnight, young Mister and Miss Connen,” Dumbledore beamed down at them as he held the door open.

The twins stepped onto the spiral staircase and the steps began to descend. Alice glanced back at the headmaster as he shut the door and was a bit confused to notice a look of pain on his face before the heavy wooden door blocked him from view. As she and her brother were carried down she shook her head. Maybe he had a stomach ache or a headache, or maybe he was simply tired, he was quite old after all. It could be he felt responsible for the young man that was killed, but for some reason Alice suspected that that wasn’t the cause of such a grief-stricken, and even guilt-ridden, expression as she had thought she saw on the headmaster’s face.

The wall ahead of them opened once more and the staircase halted, dropping them off once more on the seventh floor as the gargoyle statue slid out of their way. The twins hopped off the staircase and crept out of the passageway. Once they were clear, the wall closed behind them and the gargoyle returned to its place. Jason moved to go down another corridor that served as a shortcut back to Ravenclaw tower, but Alice called him back, getting an idea.

“Hey, Jason! Will you walk me back to Gryffindor Tower?” she asked, grinning.

“Sure,” Jason replied. Alice headed off down the corridor and Jason followed, jogging a few steps to catch up with her. “So that was… odd, but informative,” he commented.

“Yeah, it was weird being in mom’s memories… and seeing her,” Alice replied, remembering the image of her mother from the memories. It was the only first-hand image of her mother that she had as Nax had disappeared when they were still too young to remember.

“Yeah, she looks a lot like you,” Jason added.

“You look like her too, you have the same nose,” Alice said, flicking the aforementioned feature, prompting Jason to glare at her as he rubbed it. 

* * *

Dumbledore shut the heavy oak door behind the twins, his frame sagging against it wearily. It was a tiredness of the soul rather than the body. He hated lying to the children.

Proceeding back over to the cabinet, Dumbledore gazed down into the basin, as if by looking into he could see the memories they had just witnessed play out all over again. Of course, he didn’t need to view the memory again, those images were seared into his mind, and on his heart. He considered himself responsible for the casualties of that battle; after all, he had sanctioned the mission. He should’ve approved the members before letting them go, he shouldn’t have let such a young group of witches and wizards try to take down the Dark Lord. If he had only allowed the older, more experienced wizards to go, maybe there would have been no casualties.

Dumbledore shook his head.

It was the young members that had almost succeeded. James, Sirius, Lily, and Remus were just shy of twenty yet they had handled themselves brilliantly. It was some of the older members that had been injured or taken out of the battle quickly. He himself had allowed the Dark Lord to become such a threat, and he had failed in every attempt to defeat him, so he used others to do what he could not. His own failures put young people in harm’s way, made soldiers out of them back then, and made orphans of them now. In both situations he never told them the whole truth.

Dumbledore looked up to the shelves housing the numerous vials of memories. He looked straight to the shelf containing Willamena’s memories. He knew what story each and every vial held. 

Heaving a sigh, Dumbledore gently picked up Willamena’s memory of getting engaged to Matt Connen. Retrieving a key from the depths of a pocket he unlocked a drawer and placed the vial inside. Leaving it open he reached for more vials. Nax and Matt’s wedding, the birth of Alice and Jason, Nax being asked to be the godmother of James and Lily’s son Harry. All of them went into the drawer.

The first time Nax and Matt kissed, the twins’ first birthday, Nax and Kensington making a pact to be sisters forever, Nax asking Kensington to be her children’s godmother.

Nax going to the Potter’s burned and blackened house, Nax fighting to take charge of Harry, Nax going after Sirius, the explosion, her coming back to Dumbledore raving about Sirius’ innocence, Dumbledore calming her, giving her a mission, taking her memories…

Dumbledore shut the drawer and locked it.

It would never do for the twins to know the truth.

* * *

The twins rounded the corner to the corridor in which the entrance to the Gryffindor Common Room was. It was a few steps before Jason realized he had lost his sister. He turned around to stare, bemused, at Alice who was stretching her legs.

“Okay, can you go open the portrait hole and make sure it stays open? Imma try and jump through!” Alice said, preparing her stance. Jason glared at her. “What?”

“And here I thought you asked me to walk with you because you wanted to spend some quality time with your brother,” Jason retorted snidely.

“Well you thought wrong, little brother,” Alice replied.

“Younger by five minutes,” Jason whined.

“Closer to six!” Alice declared as Jason trudged over to the portrait hole and opened it with the password Alice had given him. “Now keep it open!” Alice hollered to him. 

Jason sighed, nodded and waved his hand to tell her to go ahead.

“She’s dragged you into this now too?” the fat lady in the portrait asked sympathetically. Jason nodded to which the fat lady replied: “Poor lad.”

Alice bolted from her runner’s stance and careened towards the portrait hole. She went behind the portrait and out of Jason’s sight, so he scrambled around the portrait to see the results.

An exclamation of “Dang it!” preceded a slight thud. Jason rolled his eyes.

“Good night, Alice!” he called through the portrait hole.

“G’night,” she grumbled irritably as the portrait swung back into place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, Triggs gets in trouble for this but it doesn't show up 'til later... but can you really blame him for doing exactly what Dumbledore trained him to do?  
> Also, apologies if Dumbledore is your favorite and you think this is bashing him- I don't hate him, but... He's a very complex character who I think does everything with good intentions, but he has a habit of holding off on critical information and using children to fight his battles that I don't think started with Harry.


	15. Hagrid Should Not Have Told Us That

Alice was crossing over to the Great Hall when a high-pitched squeal and a mass of strawberry blonde curls tackled her. Not expecting the surprise hug, Alice was knocked off balance and the girls tumbled to the floor, much to the amusement of the Weasley twins. Alice tried to extricate herself from Emily, who currently appeared as only a mass of curls and fluffy pink fabric.

“Woops! Sorry, Alice! I am so sorry! I didn’t mean to knock you down, I honestly thought you were sturdier,” Emily laughed cheerily.

“Don’t you know? Alice is just a twig!” George grinned as he and Fred helped the girls up.

“Yeah, she gets buffeted about by the slightest of breezes!” Fred laughed.

Alice wasn’t amused and gave Fred a quick punch in the arm. He merely laughed it off. They weren’t wrong though, Alice was rather small, and there had been that one time back home where she had been knocked off her feet by a strong gust of wind from a tropical storm.

“Anyways,” Emily grinned, readjusting her hat, which matched her bright pink fluffy coat. Alice had never seen so much pink before meeting Emily, yet now this rather abrasive shade seemed natural and Alice noticed how drab the castle had seemed without it. Alice would be the last to admit it, but she had quite missed Emily.

“How was your trip?” George asked jovially.

Strangely, Emily’s cheerfulness dropped at the question. She pursed her lips and exhaled sharply out her nose. With a roll of her eyes, she shrugged off the question.

“Nothing interesting,” she returned shortly. 

Alice and the twins glanced at each other in bewilderment, but they couldn’t pursue the matter as Emily’s smile quickly returned, though it seemed a bit forced.

“I want to know what you guys did! How was your holiday?” She suddenly bounced on her feet, brightening with a thought and turning to them excitedly. “What’d you get for Christmas?”

Fred and George simultaneously lifted an edge of their scarves. Both were red and gold but one was embroidered with a ‘G,’ the other an ‘F.’ Strangely enough though, George had the scarf with the ‘F’ on it and Fred the one with the ‘G.’

“Shouldn’t those be switched?” Emily asked, trying, and failing, to suppress a smirk.

“What? Why?” George asked in mock alarm, lifting the edge to stare at the embroidered letter.

“No, no, no! We have the right ones! I have ‘G’ for ‘Great’ while he has ‘F’ for ‘Frustrating’!” Fred declared. George glared at him and flipped Fred’s scarf into his face.

“Don’t you mean ‘F’ for ‘Fantastic’ and ‘G’ for ‘Garbage’?” George laughed.

“I had thought it was ‘F’ for ‘Futile’ and ‘G’ for ‘Grotesque’!” Alice jeered.

“So you admit it! I’m the prettier twin!” George announced triumphantly.

“Yeah, but that’s not saying much,” Alice laughed.

“Oh, shut it!” Fred grinned and bumped into Alice. As if to reinforce their previous conversation, Alice was knocked off balance by the light bump and nearly ran into the doorframe, to the enjoyment of her friends.

Over the next couple days, students flooded back to the castle, banishing the gloomy silence. Filch certainly wasn’t happy at having more children to clean up after, but at least Alice and the Weasley twins no longer had the castle to themselves to cause no end of trouble. Although Alice was glad to have Emily back, she wasn’t at all excited about what that meant: classes were starting back.

It was a good thing Emily got back a few days before classes restarted because that gave her time to reinstitute Alice’s sleep schedule, which had been ruined over break. Alice certainly cursed her friend endlessly when she was woken early each morning, having gotten used to sleeping in until noon, but she was thankful when classes started back. Others were not so lucky, but Alice felt no compunction against throwing plant clippings at her classmates that were dozing during Herbology.

“I like the new look, Cole, very hobo-esque,” Liz teased plucking a sprout from Cole’s hair.

“What?!” Cole’s head jerked up from the table as his fellow Gryffindors burst into laughter. His hand went to his hair where he was shocked to find twigs and leaves. “What the--?!”

The students were dismissed and as Alice passed by Cole’s table she tossed one last clipping which landed in Cole’s thick hair. Cole glared after her while Thomas was bent double with laughter, fighting for breath. Cole soon turned to his friend and fixed him with an affronted glare.

“It’s not funny!” he grumbled. Thomas couldn’t respond for laughter.

Unfortunately, even Alice wasn’t equipped to stay awake during History of Magic. Professor Binns seemed to have developed being boring into a super power, to which no student could combat. The class was a success in Alice’s book however, as she managed to remember one name before she had dozed off into a world where she ran a lucrative minotaur racing business. 

“How likely is that by the way?” Alice asked after having related her dream to Emily.

“I don’t know, minotaur aren’t common here, so you’d probably have to pay a lot to import some,” Emily replied genuinely.

“Ah well, I’ll just have to stick with my fall-back plan,” Alice declared.

“Which is?” Emily grinned.

“Becoming a specialist on the Vampire-Italian War,” she replied with a mock air of superiority.

The girls headed off to lunch, filing into the Great Hall where all four tables had been returned. They found the twins quickly as their bright mops of orange hair weren’t too hard to pick out of a crowd. As they made their way over to the Weasleys and Lee Jordan, an older student got up from across the boys and bumped right into the girls.

“Oh, sorry,” Oliver Wood mumbled in apology, barely glancing at the girls as he left the Great Hall. The girls looked after him, stunned by his rudeness. Oliver was usually friendly with them as they were familiar faces at Quidditch games and practices.

“What’s with him?” Alice asked the Weasley twins and Lee Jordan as she and Emily took the empty spot left by Oliver at the table.

“He’s upset—“ George began but was interrupted by Lee Jordan.

“And rightly so!” Lee harrumphed and tore viciously into his sandwich which only succeeded in ripping the fragile bread and dumping half of the sandwich’s insides onto his plate and lap.

“Because Charlie hasn’t come back,” George finished.

“What do you mean Charlie hasn’t come back? Is he running late? Missing a practice session?” Alice asked, confused. It wasn’t until now that she noticed how subdued the boys were.

“No, like he’s not coming back. Ever.” Lee Jordan angrily plopped a scoop of mashed potatoes onto his plate, splattering Fred’s sleeve.

“Ugh! Really?” Fred complained, wiping the potatoes off of his sleeve.

“Sorry! You know I eat when I’m upset!” Lee retorted angrily, stabbing a piece of chicken with much more force than was necessary.

“Apparently, Charlie graduated early and his little trip to check out that dragon place was actually a job interview,” George explained.

“So, he’s gone… for good?” Emily asked quietly.

“What does that mean for our Quidditch team?” Alice demanded, her heart beating rapidly as she feared the worse.

“That’s what I’m saying!” Lee exclaimed, tearing into his chicken.

Fred and George shrugged their shoulders hopelessly.

“We’ll have to use the reserve Seeker,” George answered.

“But Llewyn is bloody awful! He’s only the reserve because no one else could even catch a ball!” Lee erupted. “This was gonna be our year! But your dumb brother had to go and ruin all our chances!”

"Couldn't Alicia do it?" Alice suggested.

"She's a reserve  _Chaser_. Gah, they _have_ to change these rules!" George complained.

“I’m sure the team can still manage,” Emily offered optimistically.

“Unless our Chasers can manage to maintain more than a hundred-fifty point lead during all our remaining games, which professionals can hardly do, I wouldn’t count on it,” Fred retorted disparagingly.

This news had put the group in a grim mood that never lifted from their lunch time. The boys departed for their next class without their usual bouncing steps and echoing laughter; an event Alice had never thought could even happen. She had also been greatly affected by this turn of events, so much so that not even Charms class could cheer her up… well, not completely. 

Flitwick did manage to make her crack a smile when he levitated an unruly Slytherin’s wand all about the room. The Slytherin boy chased after it as it danced through the air just out of reach. He scrambled atop desks trying to reach it before Flitwick finally released it, sending the boy diving after it to land in a pile on the floor to the amusement of his classmates. Needless to say, he caused no further disruptions.

That night, when Alice and Emily returned to the Gryffindor Common Room they were shocked to find it quiet. It was packed, the girls ended up sitting on the floor with Lee Jordan, who had his hand in a big box of candy that he was grumpily munching on. Nevertheless, any conversation was hushed and grim, occasionally pierced by an angry or frustrated outburst. News of Charlie’s departure, and thus the prospects of the Quidditch team, had clearly spread.

This mood continued into the next day. Defense Against the Dark Arts was Alice’s last hope and she went into class determined to have the morose mood evaporated, if only for a few hours. She chatted with Emily, or rather, Emily rambled to her about nothing in particular and Alice nodded or replied where convenient, until the door to Triggs’ office opened.

A tall figure in black robes that billowed about him like a bat emerged from Triggs’ office and stalked over to the black board and wrote with shiver-inducing screeches. Heads turned each and every way as whispers swarmed through the classroom, all asking the same question: where’s Triggs? Now that Alice thought about it, she hadn’t seen Triggs since they had gotten caught snooping in Dumbledore’s office.

Snape dropped a large leather-bound book on Triggs’ desk with a loud slap that sent every student an inch off their stools in alarm. He suddenly had everyone’s attention: none of their classmates knew what was going on, so Snape was their only hope in getting answers.

“Open your books to page two-hundred and sixty-seven,” Snape drawled, glaring at the students as if they were ants interrupting his picnic—not that Snape seemed the picnicking type.

The students dutifully obeyed, ducking their heads down so as to avoid drawing Snape’s ire. Alice, however, was going to get some answers and she stuck her hand up in the air. Snape glanced at her for a split second before returning to the board and scrawling in his spidery handwriting “Elementary Defensive Spells.”

Alice clenched her jaw and bored holes into Snape’s back, keeping her hand high in the air. Snape turned around and his gaze scanned the entire room—aside from Alice’s raised, and now insistently waving, hand of course.

“Now—“ Snape began.

“Excuse me, Professor,” Alice interrupted loudly, smothering a triumphant smirk as Snape’s narrowed eyes descended upon her. While other students squirmed under the dissecting gaze, Alice seemed to swell with confidence.

“Five points from Gryffindor. I will not be interrupted, Miss Connen,” Snape spat acerbically. “Now, I’ve been informed that Professor Triggs introduced you all to elementary defensive spells. If you will turn to your books—“

“Speaking of Professor Triggs, Professor. Where is he? Not that we don’t all appreciate your stepping in, but I’m sure we would all like to know why our _proper_ teacher isn’t here,” Alice once more interrupted, smothering her caustic remarks with a honeyed tone so that only the most trained ear even realized she had just challenged Snape. Snape’s lips twitched into a snarl.

“In all honesty, Miss Connen, that is none of your concern. Five more points from Gryffindor,” Snape returned. A collective groan raised from Alice’s classmates but she wasn’t giving in that easily—they’d thank her later.

“I am simply a concerned and inquisitive student that you just shot down without a thought! But I do apologize professor, I should take your word and defer to your expertise. Although the Headmaster encourages open and honest communication between professors and students,” Alice fired back assuming an innocent and submissive expression, though her eyes glinted wickedly.

At mention of the Headmaster, Snape’s expression faltered, but his customary scowl was never too long gone. He fixed a vicious smile that seemed more like a grimace of pain than an understanding grin.

“Of course the Headmaster encourages open conversation—that is how respect is fostered, so he says. If you must know, Professor Triggs departed last week for an approved research trip. He should return before next class. Now, if you will cease your interruptions I will attempt to get you students on the right track after some rather lax planning on your dear Professor Triggs’ part,” Snape snapped. His glare dared Alice to battle on, but she had gotten what she wanted.

“Thank you, professor,” Alice returned genuinely, much to Snape’s disappointment. By not fighting back, Alice had won the battle. Alice smirked to herself while Snape’s dour mood worsened.

Although satisfied with the outcome of her spar with Snape, Alice was quite shaken by Snape’s answer. Triggs was off on a “research trip” which if that wasn’t code for a forced sabbatical Alice didn’t know what was. Had she gotten Triggs in trouble? Possibly even fired? Oh, her fellow classmates would _love_ her if she was the reason for them now having two classes with Snape!

Alice and Emily went to the Gryffindor Quidditch team’s practice session that weekend. To be kind, it was a mess; to be honest, it was painful. Geoffrey Llewyn was almost as incompetent on a broom as Alice was. He couldn’t even catch the training snitch and ran into several of his teammates chasing after it. The girls cringed after a particularly nasty collision with Sarah Melbrook, who went off on the third year and almost drove him to tears. It was after this debacle that Oliver called an end to practice.

“Well, that was—“ Alice began hesitantly, trying to feign optimism.

“Pathetic!” Fred spat.

“Despicable!” George bristled.

“He’s almost as bad as me!” Alice chuckled half-heartedly.

“He’s gonna humiliate us!” Fred continued angrily. “If he’d just stay still and hang out above all the plays, we may have a fighting chance, but he’s determined to mess everything up!”

“He wants to prove himself,” Emily supplied, though she agreed with Fred’s statement.

“Yeah, well, he shouldn’t!” George grumbled. “And Oliver’s even been training him one-on-one, but the kid’s just hopeless! We should really hold try-outs for Seeker again.”

“Oliver tried. Apparently, if we have a reserve, we can’t hold try-outs for a position once the season’s already started,” Angelina explained, joining the group on their trek back up to the castle.

“That’s bogus!” Fred snapped.

“Yeah, but there’s not much we can do about it,” Alice added grimly. Fred grunted in agreement and the group trudged up towards the castle. A great bellow interrupted their gloomy journey, drawing everyone’s gaze to the edge of the forest where a giant of a man was shooing off some form of creature that was only visible as a rustling in the bushes.

“Hagrid!” Alice shouted in greeting and waved exaggeratedly. 

The big man turned at the child’s voice and even from their position near the castle the kids could see the huge grin that plastered his face upon recognizing Alice. Hagrid returned her wave, with just as much enthusiasm and bid greetings to the other students as well who smiled and waved back. Alice hadn’t spoken to Hagrid in a while and she did want to tell him about the photo albums she had gotten of her parents and about Dumbledore showing her some of her mom’s memories.

“Hey guys, I’ll see you later okay. I’m gonna go talk with Hagrid,” Alice told the others. Emily grinned and bid goodbye to the others as well—she clearly thought she had been exempt from that dismissal. Alice didn’t mind, she liked having someone to do everything with.

The girls hastened down the hill towards the groundskeeper’s hut. Hagrid dragged a tree from the edge of the forest up to his enclosed garden. Brushing off his hands when the girls finally made it to him, Hagrid beamed and left the tree where it lay.

“Alice!” Hagrid boomed cheerfully and he practically swallowed the small girl in a hug. “And this must be your friend Emily?” Hagrid turned, grinning down at the blonde girl who was just realizing that Hagrid had looked a lot smaller from far away. She quickly shook off the intimidation however, as being friendly was her default setting.

“Emily Beaumont, how do you do sir,” she extended her small hand to the groundskeeper with a kind smile. Hagrid’s large hand engulfed hers, but he shook it as gently as a babe.

“Rubeus Hagrid, pleased to finally meet you!” he replied. He glanced over the girls and then with a start slapped his hand to his forehead. “Ah! Where are m’ manners! Come in! Come in! Out of the cold,” he exclaimed, heading for the door to his hut and holding the door for the girls whose heads barely reached to the handle.

“Apologies for the mess!” Hagrid flustered as he hastily tried to straighten up: putting dishes in the sink, tossing shoes into a closet, and returning coats mindlessly tossed over chairs to the coat rack. “Would you like some tea? I’ll put a pot on!” Hagrid exclaimed, not waiting for an answer before rushing to get a kettle.

“Oh, that’s all right, Hagrid,” Alice said, at the same time that Emily said: “That’d be lovely, thanks!”

Alice glared at the back of Emily’s head as the blonde girl unwrapped her scarf from around her neck. Alice pulled her hat off and shrugged out of her coat as they were not needed in the heat of the hut from the steadily crackling fire. Hagrid had taken to listening to Emily, clearly, as he busied himself with making the tea.

While the water was boiling, Hagrid asked about the girls’ holidays. Emily provided a much more polite response this time around, but Alice still noticed a tenseness to her friend. Alice told Hagrid all about her gifts, and her using some of her new prank items on the Weasley twins and her brother.

“Oh! And Dumbledore showed me and my brother one of my mother’s memories,” Alice tacked onto the end of her list after accepting a steaming cup from Hagrid. Alice blew at the hot liquid before raising her eyes back to the others. Hagrid and Emily were staring at her, eyes wide and mouths agape.

“He showed you what?!” Emily exclaimed. “Why is this the first I’m hearing of this?”

“I forgot is all,” Alice shrugged. “It wasn’t a particularly happy memory. But Dumbledore did say that he would show us some more of her memories later.”

“Why does Dumbledore have some of yer mum’s memories?” Hagrid finally overcame his shock to ask.

“He said he sent her on some kind of mission one time where she couldn’t have certain information for fear of it being discovered if she was caught, so he took some of her memories but then after the mission when he was returning them she let him keep some of them. Mostly painful ones,” Alice added the last a bit ruefully.

“How did he show you memories?” Emily asked.

“Oh, he has this stone basin thing—“

“No, no. I meant, like, did you ask him for information on your mum, or what?” Emily interrupted Alice, clarifying her question.

“Oh, well,” Alice grinned ruefully. “It’s kind of a funny story. You see, I went to Triggs to ask more about my mom, but he couldn’t tell me, something about a charm that kept him from talking about some stuff. So he took me to Dumbledore’s office… we kinda snuck in and were looking around for something that could help him tell me more about my mom, when Dumbledore walked in and caught us. He had Triggs go get my brother and then the headmaster showed us one of my mom’s memories,” Alice explained. She quirked her head and furrowed her brows reflectively. “He didn’t seem mad at the time, but I haven’t seen Triggs since. I hope he’s not in trouble.”

“I should ‘spect not. All he’s got to worry ‘bout in Albania is vampires!” Hagrid laughed.

When the girls stared at him questioningly, Hagrid froze up, clamping his mouth shut.

“I shouldn’t ‘a said that! I should not ‘ave said that!” he rebuked himself sternly.

“What’s Triggs doing in Albania?” Emily asked in confusion.

Hagrid shook his head stubbornly, his lips pressed together tightly as if he was fighting to keep something from bursting out.

“Aw, come on, Hagrid! If you don’t tell me I’m gonna imagine the most terrible things! Like that maybe Triggs was sent to Albania as punishment and tossed into a cave of starving vampires! Or he’s being eaten by Cyclopes or mauled by bears or—what do they have in Albania anyway?” Alice rambled.

“All right! All right! But don’t tell anyone I told ya this,” Hagrid warned sternly.

Alice and Emily zipped their lips and threw away the key. Hagrid glanced nervously at the window in the kitchen, which was closed from the winter chill and now from any eavesdroppers. He leaned closer to the girls as they instinctively did the same, trying to hide excited grins.

“Apparently, Dumbledore heard rumors about some dark forces over in those parts. He sent Triggs in for confirmation. Personally I’m hoping he finds it’s just a bunch of fooey, but somethin’s tellin’ me we won’t be that lucky,” Hagrid relayed in a hushed tone. “Now, ye can’t tell no one ‘bout this! I never should’a even told you!” he returned to berating himself.

Although Alice was fascinated by this subject, Hagrid wouldn’t budge on giving any more information. Emily meanwhile steered the conversation towards more positive topics. Hagrid finally shooed the girls out before the sun went too far down, which would turn the temperature outside that much colder and it’s not like the two girls had a lot of meat on their bones to keep them warm.

Emily jokingly rolled her eyes to the fat lady in the portrait, who laughed, as she kept the portrait hole opened for Alice. A flurry of black and brown hurtled out of sight behind the portrait. A thud, some muttered cursing, and amused laughter filtered out of the portrait hole to tell Emily that Alice had once again failed in making it all the way through. The blonde crawled through and emerged into the Gryffindor Common Room to find Alice dusting off the knees of her pants. Emily just shook her head at her friend.

“Alice Connen!” a pair of voices bellowed from the back corner.

A couple flustered ginger boys stomped through the light crowd over to Alice and Emily. Emily quickly tried to stifle a burst of laughter as Fred and George finally came within full sight, and it was no longer just their hair that was red. The twins were covered in a light layer of red coloring that seemed to be flaking off in parts, leaving a trail of red paint behind them when they moved. Their clothes were relatively clean aside from the edges that rubbed against the painted skin. The boys’ hair was tinged a shade more red than their normal ginger and was sticking up at odd angles where the paint had dried. The boys had clearly tried to clean up a bit, but the evidence of Alice’s prank remained obvious.

“I had forgotten about that one,” Alice chuckled to herself.

“A bucket of bloody paint over the door! Really!” Fred exclaimed.

“We were covered! And it wouldn’t come out! We’ve showered twice already!” George added angrily.

“Well, it was oil-based,” Alice laughed.

“And how did you even get up into the boy’s dormitories?” Fred asked in frustration.

“What do you mean?” Alice asked.

“I mean how did you get up? We can’t get into the girl’s dormitories!” Fred exclaimed.

“You can’t?” Alice was genuinely confused. “What happens when you try? Go on, try!” she pushed the twins over to the stairs to the girl’s dormitories.

With a glare at her, the twins stepped up the steps slowly. Before they had even gotten three steps up, the staircase flattened into a slide and the boys slipped back down. Alice gazed at the slide in wonder.

“Dude! Y’all have to make it do that every morning! We can slide down!” Alice cheered excitedly. “That would be so much fun!”


	16. Wherein Gryffindor has the Most Intense Game Ever and Llewyn is Useless

The sun hung high overhead, casting bright light over the lake. There were no students there today, chatting on lawns or swimming in the water. Many wished they were cooling off in the chill lake, instead of sweating from the unusually hot sun and press of many bodies. But this was just not a game any would miss.

It wasn’t the Quidditch Cup final, but nevertheless it was a big game. Slytherin vs. Gryffindor and tensions had been running high ever since a group of Slytherins had ambushed the Gryffindor Seeker and tried to injure him a week ago. A professor had broken it up in time, but the event put everyone on edge, so that every house was now allied against Slytherin in this opening match of the season.

Scarlet and gold, and green and silver figures streaked overhead. A bludger was struck by a Slytherin Beater and sent hurtling after a Gryffindor Chaser. The crowd erupted as Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, and Ravenclaws called out a warning to the seemingly unsuspecting Chaser who was flying straight for the goal posts with the Quaffle tucked under an arm. The bludger shot for the girl’s head, but at the last second the girl flipped upside down on her broom, the bludger whistling harmlessly over, and in the same movement returned right-side-up.

Cheers roared from the stands as the girl dodged a Slytherin Chaser trying for a foul and continued on to the goal posts where she shot it through the right before the Keeper could get there. The Gryffindor Chaser took a victory lap past the stands.

Alice and Jason stared after Nax as she streaked past, grinning broadly, her brown ponytail fluttering behind her like a banner.

“She’s incredible,” Jason gasped. Alice could only gulp as their mother hurtled upwards at the Slytherin Chaser carrying the quaffle, snatching it from the boy’s hands before he ever saw her coming.

Almost immediately after retrieving the Quaffle, Nax tossed it to a fellow Gryffindor Chaser—a boy with messy black hair and glasses that must’ve been stuck to his face by magic because they never even wobbled when he barrel-rolled to avoid a Slytherin. James didn’t see the Beater racing towards him, bat raised, before it was almost too late. The Slytherin swung for the boy’s head, which James luckily ducked, but a whistle shrieked through the air as a much younger looking Madam Hooch flew up. James got a penalty shot, the quaffle sailing through the middle hoop after a brilliant fake led the Keeper away.

The game resumed, but the cheers hadn’t yet died down when a shout immediately silenced everyone. The Gryffindor and Slytherin Seekers were jostling with each other as they raced after a faintly glittering speck. The Slytherin started to pull ahead, but Nax shot up towards him, whistling right past his broom, distracting him and causing him to break off in alarm. The small distraction was all the Gryffindor Seeker needed to race past the Slytherin unheeded and snatch the Snitch.

The twins felt the stands shake and they looked worriedly to Dumbledore, silently asking if the stands had fallen at the Quidditch game in 1977. The headmaster just smiled at them and shook his head. The twins looked at each other and simultaneously sighed in relief.

The Gryffindor Quidditch team was now a slowly descending huddle of scarlet and gold as the players had flocked to congratulate each other. The stands quickly began to empty as the students rushed to cheer on the victors. Alice began to follow, before she, Jason, and Dumbledore appeared on the pitch, the Gryffindor team landing just feet from them. A stampede of Gryffindors swarmed the team, Alice shivering as the students phased through her like she wasn’t even there—which, technically she wasn’t, and it’s not like she felt anything, it was just weird.

“Why did my mom give up this memory? It seems really happy, I mean, she won!” Alice asked, craning her head to look up at Dumbledore. Dumbledore simply nodded towards Nax and Alice turned back to watch.

Gryffindors cheered and James and the other Chaser lifted their Seeker on their shoulders. Three boys and a girl forced their way through the crowd towards the team: the girl, red hair and green eyes, was Lily Evans, her mom’s friend; one of the boys had light brown hair and Alice recognized him as Lupin from the previous memory and pictures in her album; another was small with a pointed nose; and the other had shoulder-length black hair and a charming grin plastered on his face that immediately identified him as Sirius. James had by this point set down the Seeker, and the three boys practically tackled him while Lily went to Nax. Sirius hugged his friend, but quickly went behind James to Nax who was talking with Lily.

Without the slightest hesitation, Sirius pressed his lips to Nax’s.

Alice’s and Jason’s brows shot to their hairlines and their jaws seemed to have come unhinged they hung open so wide.

Nax’s eyes grew wide and she hastily pulled back before anyone but Lily, James, and his friends had noticed. Nax slipped behind Lily and lost herself in the crowd of people congratulating her. Sirius’ grin had slipped, and he looked as if Nax had slapped him. Lily looked at him with sympathy and reached out to him, but he shoved through the crowd and disappeared.

The Quidditch pitch began to fade like paint in water and Alice felt that still not-so-familiar feeling of falling. She gasped as she returned once more to the present reality. Looking around she found herself, thankfully, back in Dumbledore’s office.

Dumbledore directed the gaseous memory out of the basin and back into the vial. 

“That was weird,” Alice stated, eyes wide. “He _kissed_ our _mom_!”

“She seemed just as unnerved by it,” Jason remarked.

“Well, duh! She was being kissed by someone other than Dad!” Alice retorted.

“Most parents have, in their lifetimes, kissed people before their spouses,” Dumbledore commented with a sly chuckle. Alice glared at him.

“Well, yeah, I get that, but have you ever watched _your_ mom get kissed by a guy other than your father?” Alice asked sarcastically.

“No, I have not,” Dumbledore conceded with a chuckle.

“They seemed to still be friends after that? How did they… get past that little event?” Jason asked curiously, referring to the first memory they had seen.

“That’s a memory for another day,” Dumbledore answered gently.

Alice and Jason left the headmaster’s office, down the stairs, past the gargoyle, and through the corridor. Alice’s grumbling stomach sounded like a whale song, so the twins set their steps towards the Great Hall for dinner.

“Do you think mom loved him?” Jason asked quietly.

“What? Who?” Alice snapped back, a bit surprised by the question.

“Her friend,” Jason clarified. Alice scoffed.

“What? No! She chose Dad,” she explained.

“That doesn’t mean she didn’t love this Sirius guy--”

“What an awful name,” Alice grumbled.

“Maybe she chose Dad because she thought he was a safer bet?” Jason continued as if there had been no interruption. “Maybe she was scared.”

“If anything, I think it’s the opposite—she loved Dad but was afraid to ever tell him and then when Sirius kissed her she was just completely taken aback and had to figure out what it was she really wanted,” Alice returned.

“Like, growing up with Dad, she didn’t really recognize or admit those feelings, but then she was forced to when she had to stop this thing with Sirius?” Jason thought out loud, seeking agreement.

“Exactly!” Alice exclaimed.

“Though, maybe if she had picked Sirius, we wouldn’t have to deal with the ‘Connen awkward phase,’” Jason laughed.

“We haven’t gone through an awkward phase,” Alice retorted.

“Not yet!” Jason pointed out.

Alice turned back to fix Jason with a glare. When she turned back around she nearly ran headlong into a tall figure. Hastily putting on the brakes, Alice craned her neck to see who it was.

“Triggs!” she cried out in joy and wrapped her arms about his waist. “Thank God you’re back! Gryffindor house wouldn’t have survived another class with Snape!”

“I’m sure they would’ve had you to thank,” Triggs chuckled, patting her head. Alice relinquished the professor.

“Well, only partially,” she grinned shamefacedly. “How was Al—your trip?” Alice hastily corrected herself before revealing that she had information she shouldn’t. Triggs quirked an eyebrow but didn’t pursue the matter.

“It was—informative,” he replied vaguely, a slight downturn to the edges of his lips which Alice figured could only mean that the world was going to be plunged into chaos quite soon.

“We’re all gonna die, huh?” she grunted.

“No! What are you talking about?” Triggs exclaimed, shocked.

“I don’t know, you just seemed a tad grim,” Alice explained.

“So you assumed dire peril?” Triggs questioned, a slight grin pulling at his mouth. Alice shrugged.

“Hey, you always assume the worse, you’re never really taken by surprise. Keeps ya prepared,” she stated simply, nodding.

Any response Triggs would have made was interrupted by what sounded like the grumblings of a troll. Triggs started, but at the shamefaced grin on Alice’s face as she pressed her arms against her stomach, he realized that they were not about to be attacked by a troll, but that if they didn’t act soon, they might be faced with a much more terrifying creature: a hungry Alice.

“Why don’t you two head down to get something to appease that beast you swallowed,” Triggs grinned to Alice.

“Ha ha, very funny,” Alice rolled her eyes while Jason chuckled.

By the time the twins got to the Great Hall, Alice’s stomach grumblings were echoing off the walls. Jason had already tried a silencing charm on her stomach but it didn’t appear to have worked. Alice made a beeline for the nearest open spot at the table, but she was reluctantly steered further down where the Weasley twins, Lee, Angelina, Alicia, Katie, Leanne, and Emily were hollering and waving at her to join.

Emily and Leanne made room for her and Alice slipped onto the bench and immediately set to stuffing her mouth, not even bothering to fill her plate first. After a rather large bite of bread that went down hard, Alice reached for a drink of water. Lee pushed the goblet within Alice’s reach and she gulped at it.

Vodka sprayed out from Alice’s mouth to the guffaws of the boys. Alice coughed hard and pushed the goblet as far away from herself as she could. 

“Why didn’t you warn me?” she spluttered to Emily, sticking her tongue out in disgust.

“I didn’t know!” Emily protested.

“Hey! Change it back! Quick! Quick!” George urged frantically after glancing down the table. Before the boys could grab the goblet and return the vodka to water, a shadow loomed over them.

“What is going on here?” a stern voice demanded. 

Everyone immediately stiffened as McGonagall glared down at the group. She plucked up the goblet that Fred was attempting to whisper incantations over and sniffed at it. Her face pinched and she glared down at the boys.

“I would expect such foolishness from first-years, but I would think you three would be more mature, especially with a Quidditch match tomorrow!” McGonagall scolded.

“Well, you’d think wrong,” Fred retorted.

“Five points from Gryffindor,” McGonagall glared at the boys before stalking off. Before she reached the professors’ table though, she knocked back the goblet and finished it off in one swig.

“Bloody hell!” George exclaimed, grinning over at the others.

The next morning at breakfast Alice made sure not to let any of the boys near her goblet. Luckily, they didn’t try anything similar, they were too preoccupied with anticipation. This would be the first game without Charlie.

Angelina could barely choke down half of a muffin before excusing herself from the table. Oliver Wood seemed to be mechanically shoveling down food without tasting it—what seemed sacrilege to Alice. Even the Weasley twins were subdued and only finished one plate of food, not even going for seconds, let alone thirds!

The morning post interrupted the group’s mood.

A grey ball of feathers practically fell onto the Gryffindor table in front of the twins.

“Oh, Errol,” George groaned, untying the letter from the owl’s leg. Errol didn’t immediately fly off, instead he flopped down on the table, resting against a loaf of bread as if gathering his strength before heading off again.

“What is it?” Fred grumbled through a bit of sausage.

“A letter from Charlie,” George spat, tossing the letter onto the table as if it burned.

“What? Wishing us luck since he knows he took all our chances of winning due to talent?” Lee complained.

Alice was rescued from the boy’s glumness by Tilly smoothly fluttering onto the table before her. He stretched out a leg impatiently as if begging her to free it from the letter. Alice slipped the letter off and gave Tilly a scratch on the head, to which he leaned into, closing his big black eyes. When she stopped scratching him, he gave an affronted hoot and nipped at her knuckle.

“Hey! I have to read it! You little stage hog!” she teased playfully, stroking Tilly’s feathers. 

Lee took over petting Tilly for her as Emily had a letter of her own to deal with. Alice tore open the envelope and the letter flew up above the table. Everyone turned as a cheerful voice boomed out over the Hall.

“Alice! Jason! Guess what? Cancel your plans for tomorrow! I’m taking you guys out! Be ready for my arrival at nine a.m! We’re wasting no time for goofing off! Love, Aunt K!” Aunt K’s voice rung out as a howler, before the letter burst into flames.

“I don’t think your aunt understands how howlers are supposed to work,” Lee snickered.

Alice turned around to make sure Jason heard that, although seriously, how could he not? Jason grinned over at her. Alice nodded and then turned to apologize to Emily on having to bail on her, but found that Emily wasn’t there. Alice glanced around the Great Hall but couldn’t find her friend anywhere. Thinking that maybe Emily had to go to the bathroom or something, Alice shrugged it off and was soon bombarded with questions by Lee about what she would be doing tomorrow—to which she knew none of the answers.

The Quidditch team soon had to leave to get prepared for the game. Lee Jordan was ushered off by McGonagall shortly after, leaving Alice with Katie and Leanne. It wasn’t long though before everyone started heading off towards the pitch. Alice set out with the two girls before remembering she forgot her omnioculars in the room. Katie and Leanne promised to save her a seat before Alice dashed off back up to the castle.

Alice raced all through the castle, not even bothering to try to jump through the portrait hole for fear of missing the game, and practically flew up the stairs to the dormitories, but upon reaching the door she paused. Faint sniffles escaped through the wooden door, and Alice recognized the dainty sounds as belonging to Emily. Not wanting to intrude, but also not wanting to leave her friend alone and upset, Alice faltered at the door, silently debating with herself.

Neither ethical side really won out, instead, it was the faint sounds of cheers from the Quidditch pitch echoing outside that forced Alice into the room to get her omnioculars. 

Alice threw open the door, not pausing to take in how Emily jumped and hastily wiped tears from her eyes. Alice headed straight for her nightstand and jerked open the bottom drawer and retrieved her omnioculars. 

“Excuse me, just forgot my omnioculars, and my best friend,” Alice said as she went over to Emily and grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the dormitory.

“Alice? What are you doing?” Emily protested.

“Well, my best friend was sitting alone in the room crying, and I’m not gonna pry and ask about what, because I figure you’ll tell me if you want to talk about it, but I’m going to the game to watch us probably get crushed by Ravenclaw, and so I figured, you’re already upset, I’m gonna be upset, and nobody should have to suffer alone,” Alice rambled as she dragged Emily through the castle.

This seemed to put Emily at ease and so Alice no longer had to drag her out towards the Quidditch pitch. The girls raced up the steps to the stands and managed to force their way through the crowd to where Katie and Leanne were saving a seat. They had only saved one seat, for Alice, but the girls were small, and after some pushing, shoving, and elbowing other students out of the way, there was enough room for the two of them. They had just sat down when the Quidditch teams walked onto the pitch, and Lee’s magically magnified voice rang out over the cheers.

“Welcome hotties, nerds, and tools,” Lee called out over the microphone but a quick shuffle and faint muttering interrupted him. “I’m sorry, welcome _students_ to the determining match! The teams take the field, but the line-up for the Gryffindor team is a bit different this day. I’m sure you are all aware by now that the brilliant Gryffindor Seeker, Charlie Weasley, turned traitor and left us, graduated early!” Lee explained bitterly.

“Jordan!” McGonagall warned.

“Sorry, professor, but it’s true! Anyway, now Geoffrey Llewyn, the reserve Seeker, is out on the field. Gryffindors… pray for a miracle,” Lee groaned. McGonagall swatted the back of Lee’s head.

Wood shook hands with the Ravenclaw captain, Anna Savage. The players mounted their brooms and, at Madam Hooch’s whistle, raced up after the Quaffle.

“Ravenclaw’s in possession, Chaser Anthony Lucy with the Quaffle! Dodges a Bludger hit by a Weasley—nice shot, but Lucy saw it coming. He races past Melbrook—past Ewart—faces down Gryffindor’s Keeper—he shoots—OH!” Lee exclaimed, his voice bellowing above the cheering crowds. “Johnson’s intercepted the shot! It’s a fair catch! Johnson pelts down the field—GO ANGELINA!”

“Jordan,” McGonagall smirked.

“Partiality, yes I know, professor. Hayworth and Davies move to block Johnson—she passes to Ewart—Ewart races down the pitch—WATCH OUT ELGIN!” Lee roared alongside the Gryffindors as a Bludger hurtled towards the Chaser from behind. “Wooh! Ewart narrowly avoids getting his arm taken off by a bludger hit by Ravenclaw’s Gus Calvert. Ewart passes ahead to Melbrook—with Ravenclaw’s Chasers at the other end of the field, Sarah’s got an open path to the Keeper. Ravenclaw’s a very experienced team this year, I’m surprised they made that mistake.”

Ravenclaw boos echoed out from the stands.

Sarah Melbrook banked the Quaffle in off the edge of the ring, to cheers and whistles from her house.

“Melbrook took a risk banking the Quaffle in, because it could’ve rebounded off, but by doing so she ensured that Taylor couldn’t block it. Gryffindor 10, Ravenclaw zip!” Lee announced.

Jude Taylor recovered the Quaffle and tossed it to Laura Hayworth. Hayworth dodged around a screen set by Johnson and Ewart, then outflew a Bludger hit by George Weasley. Hayworth passed the ball to Anthony Lucy. Melbrook went to block Lucy, but she got warded off by a bludger hit by Ravenclaw’s captain Anna Savage. Lucy had a straight shot to Wood, and managed to trick Wood on a fake to the left while he let the Quaffle soar straight through the right ring.

The game was intense and well-matched. Both teams had a good mix of experienced and young but talented players. Each team traded off shots, so that the scores were always neck and neck, which, while making for an exciting game, didn’t set the Gryffindors at ease.

“80-70 Gryffindor! Unless somebody pulls away with a lead, this game’s gonna go to whoever catches the snitch,” Lee declared as a collective groan issued from the Gryffindors.

Llewyn had so far done a good job of staying out of the way, but there was little confidence that he would actually be able to outrace the seventh-year Ravenclaw Seeker. It also didn’t help that Miranda Elliot was a brilliant Seeker, second only to Charlie Weasley in recent years at Hogwarts.

“Davies skirts around Ewart—ELLIOT DIVES THROUGH THE PLAY—and, now I see it! The snitch! Llewyn was left flat-footed—does he even see it? There he goes after her, but Elliot’s got too great a lead,” Lee exclaimed.

Miranda reached out towards the glittering snitch, but hastily snatched her hand back as a bludger hurtled past right in front of her. Swerving to avoid getting hit, Miranda hastily searched around for the snitch, but it had disappeared in her moment of distraction. She swore and began flying around again on the hunt. The Gryffindors collectively sighed in relief.

“That was a close one! Nice hit by George Weasley, distracting Elliot just in the nick of time! And Gryffindor’s back in possession, Ewart is rocketing down the pitch, dodges Lucy, dodges Davies, Hayworth’s on his heels, but it’s just him and Taylor now—GRYFFINDOR SCORES!” Lee blared.

The Gryffindor team seemed to have been re-energized and they quickly pulled out ahead. Johnson intercepted another pass and got a quick goal off of it. Wood blocked a shot and Melbrook managed to bank another shot in. They steadily increased their lead until they were leading by one-hundred points. Alice was actually beginning to believe they might could pull out a narrow win, when Llewyn dove through the play.

He nearly took Ewart out on his dive, but Elgin managed to avoid him at the last second. Unfortunately, he dropped the Quaffle from the distraction and Roger Davies managed to score. Melbrook chewed Llewyn out as the glimmer he’d chased off after had just been an abandoned candy wrapper. Before Llewyn could return to his search, the Ravenclaw seeker started racing around above the field of play.

Not even Charlie Weasley could’ve gotten back up there in time and Miranda Elliot came down triumphantly holding the glittering snitch in her hand.

“Miranda Elliot catches the snitch! Ending the game and giving Ravenclaw a victory with a score of two-hundred and fifty to two-hundred!” Lee announced, but his tone was less than enthusiastic.

The Ravenclaws began leaving the stands to go congratulate their team and begin celebrations. The Gryffindors didn’t really seem in a hurry to leave, sitting or standing with slumped shoulders, hanging heads, and a fierce glare of disappointment. Not that they hadn’t expected it, they all knew Llewyn wouldn’t catch the snitch, but their Chasers had given them some hope only to see it be snatched away.

There was one thing for certain: Alice was dreading having to spend the entire day tomorrow with her brother.

* * *

Alice slammed her hand down upon her alarm the instant it began to go off. Making sure it was turned off and wouldn’t go off again, Alice slipped out of bed as quietly as she could. Sneaking a glance over to the bed to the right of hers, she saw that Emily was still sleeping deeply. With a relieved, but hushed, sigh, Alice set to trying to get ready without making a sound. But as is the case, when she was trying so hard to be quiet Alice ran into her night table twice, dropped the lid of her chest loudly against the bed frame and then bumped her head on it, and jarred her elbow on the corner of the bedframe painfully. With all her clattering and muttered cursing, it was a testament to how exhausted Emily was that she wasn’t woken.

Emily had cried herself to sleep last night.

She had done so quietly, and after she thought everyone else had fallen asleep. Alice of course couldn’t sleep because she was planning her next prank on the Weasley twins, but not wanting to be disturbed she pretended to be asleep. It took all her willpower not to go to her friend, but it was clear that Emily didn’t want to share this misery—at least not yet, and Alice didn’t want to prevent Emily eventually sharing it with her because Alice had acted prematurely and scared her off.

Alice scrawled a quick note and left it on Emily’s night stand before leaving, closing the door as quietly as she could behind her. Of course, the heavy wooden door had squeaky hinges and closed heavily, making Alice cringe. No sound peeped from the room though, so Alice readjusted her bag on her shoulder and descended the stairs.

“Good morning,” Jason greeted Alice calmly in the entrance hall.

Alice could feel the triumph in his voice and scowled at the door.

“I don’t know about you, but I slept rather well last night,” he smirked. 

Alice rolled her eyes. Her brother would never openly gloat, but he would layer everything he said with that tone and hint to his house’s victory probably for the rest of their lives if experience was to be the judge. Alice pointedly ignored him, shifting her backpack so that it “accidentally” bumped into him, and staring fixedly at the door awaiting the arrival of their aunt.

Aunt K seemed to be taking her sweet time. She was usually early or exactly on time, but when she was late she was late by an hour. Alice impatiently glanced over to the giant clock: ten past nine. Her foot began to tap.

“What are we waiting for?” a voice asked curiously over her shoulder.

Alice and Jason spun around to find their aunt standing behind them. 

“Aunt K!” the twins greeted excitedly and threw their arms around her.

Kensington grinned widely and hugged her niece and nephew tightly before holding them out at arm’s length to look at them.

“Okay, Jason, you’ve definitely started a growth spurt. You were not this tall last time I saw you,” Kensington lectured teasingly. 

“I’ve only grown a few inches,” Jason waved it off, though the smile refused to hide his pleasure.

“And Alice! You are looking more like your mother every day,” Kensington remarked with a fond smile, though her eyes were softer, less mischievous than usual.

“Thanks,” Alice replied.

“I like your new haircut, Aunt K,” Jason commented. Kensington laughed.

“Thank you, there’s actually a funny story behind it! But what are we standing around here for? Let’s catch up while we’re touring London!” Aunt K exclaimed. “You ready?”

The twins both nodded. Kensington took them each by the hand and with a crack, the trio disappeared. The ground dropped out, as did all scenery around them, Alice couldn’t tell which way was up and which way was down. She felt like she was pulled from all different directions and squeezed through too tight spaces, all at the same time. The weight on her chest seemed to be suffocating her, so that when the ground finally returned, she could see something other than blackness, and the crushing weight ceased, Alice gasped for breath and shut her eyes tight. Once she was breathing at a normal pace and her heart wasn’t threatening to jump out of her chest while her stomach wanted to relocate to the outside, Alice opened her eyes once more and took in her surroundings.

Aunt K grinned down at her.

“Apparating really does suck the first few times, until you get used to it,” she laughed in apology. “But it’s the fastest means of travel!”

“But how did you disapparate inside of Hogwarts? _Hogwarts, A History_ says it can’t be done, there’s supposed to be a charm or something that doesn’t allow it,” Jason protested.

Aunt K gave them both a mischievous look. “It does indeed,” she agreed, grinning. “But your aunt has quite a few tricks up her sleeve.”

Jason wasn’t quite satisfied with her answer and opened his mouth to continue his questioning, but Aunt K smoothly started up before he could say anything else. “Jason, Alice, I’d like to introduce you formally to the beautiful city of London!”

Alice stepped over to the railing to look out over the Thames. The city really was beautiful, a unique skyline. Her favorite part was definitely the London Eye which contrasted beautifully with all the solid and sharply angled buildings. There weren’t very many cars, rather much more foot traffic as everyone hurried on their way to work, or home, or shopping, or whatever Alice fancied they were doing. A double-decker bus crossed the bridge and Alice grinned, having thought that was simply an old stereotype but they were really used!

“So, there’s this great little ice cream parlor I always go to that—” Aunt K began.

“You had me at ice cream,” Alice interrupted.

Kensington led her niece and nephew through the city, stopping to take pictures on the bridge and in front of Big Ben and the London Eye of course, and down a particularly sketchy street. Aunt K assured them that this street had the best restaurants in all of London. From the looks of it Alice figured it had the most questionable food in the UK. Tucked behind a pizza place was a tiny little old-fashioned ice cream parlor. It didn’t look like much on the outside but upon entering the twins found it to be quite neat and tidy.

Aunt K got their ice creams while Alice and Jason found a table by the window, the only one open as there were a number of patrons in the shop. Kensington came back with two cones and a cup—the cup was for Jason who didn’t particularly like waffle cones. Kensington and Alice cast each other scathing side-glances at Jason’s cup.

“So? The story behind your haircut?” Jason brought up the subject as they dug into their ice cream.

“Oh yeah,” Kensington said through a mouthful of coffee ice cream. “So, I was down in Latin America for work and I was meeting up with this secret group in the Amazon rainforest. Well, we were in the forest doing research when these birds came out of the trees and started attacking us! So we ran like hell, of course, to avoid our eyes being pecked out by these crazy birds. Finally I stopped and was like ‘I’m a witch, I’ve got this’ so I turned around a blasted ‘em,” Aunt K related. 

“Nice,” Alice grinned but Kensington shook her head.

“Didn’t even slow ‘em down, so I chased after the others. But once I caught back up with them we had lost one of our group. We were all expecting the birds to come after us but they were gone. Instead, snakes started coming after us, like huge anacondas! We cast some spells on them, again nothing. We finally realized that the guide had a deathly fear of anacondas, and that the guy we had lost hated birds. These things were boggarts!”

The big reveal did not have the impact she was expecting as the twins blinked at her as if waiting for further explanation. Realization dawned on her that they didn’t know what boggarts were. She suddenly had serious questions about the British wizarding curriculum: American witches and wizards learned about boggarts in grade school.

“Wow, okay, they’re these creatures that turn into whatever you fear most. They’re usually in dark places like closets or under beds,” Kensington explained.

“So the monsters under the bed were real?!” Alice demanded. Kensington nodded.

“So we finally knew how to deal with them, but the next time they showed up they were mosquitoes so we couldn’t see them let alone hit them with our spells. Finally, someone just got frustrated and created this weird goop stuff that covered all of us. Like, it covered the forest, they had to call in a clean-up crew afterwards, it was awful!” Kensington laughed. “Luckily, it dragged down the mosquitoes so we got rid of the boggarts, but the stuff was all in my hair and it wouldn’t come out! So we had to cut the goop out, leaving me with this _fabulous_ pixie cut!” Kensington joked but the twins knew that she missed her longer hair and was probably glossing over how traumatic the haircut was.

“So, now that we know about magic, can we know what you really do for a living?” Jason asked curiously.

“It’s classified,” she stated and scooped up another bite of ice cream.

“Sounds like your some kind of wizard spy or something,” Alice chuckled.

Kensington didn’t respond but continued quietly eating her ice cream. Alice’s eyes widened. That’s it. Her aunt was totally a magical spy.

“So, how are you guys getting along at school? Tons of friends I bet,” Kensington asked, fixing her usual grin back onto her face.

Jason and Alice told her all about Hogwarts and their friends. Alice teased Jason mercilessly about Cho Chang, which Aunt K joined in on after hearing about her. Jason’s retaliation was some not-so-subtle remarks about how successful the Ravenclaw Quidditch team was this year, having only lost once to Slytherin whom everyone knew was going to win the tournament.

The group finished their ice cream and Jason won the rock, paper, scissors match so they headed for the museum. Kensington related countless hilarious and exciting work tales on the way, leaving out any specifics as to her work of course. She was just in the middle of a particularly dramatic adventure in Vienna where a pack of werewolves ambushed their party when she suddenly paused mid-sentence.

Aunt K’s face drained of color as her eyes locked onto something. Alice turned to see what gave her aunt such a haunted look, but couldn’t make out anything through the bustling crowds. Aunt K’s head followed whatever it was and she even turned trying to keep it in view. She narrowed her eyes but then shook her head.

“K? What was it?” Alice asked.

“Nothing,” Kensington muttered. “I just thought I saw someone.”

“Werewolves,” Jason commented, returning his aunt to the story.

“Oh, yes, so they had us surrounded…”

* * *

Alice and Jason were exhausted by the time Aunt K brought them back to Hogwarts. She had thankfully used the Floo System instead of apparating, saying that since they’d just eaten she didn’t want anyone to get sick. Alice figured she would’ve been sick whether they’d eaten or not, apparating was not a pleasant experience.

Alice and Jason hugged their aunt goodbye, thanking her for the adventure. Kensington was just about to leave when the sound of heavy footfalls preceded a tall figure turning the corner. He stopped abruptly upon noticing the trio.

“Oh, hello Alice and Jason,” Triggs greeted the twins, though his gaze was focused on their aunt as though enchanted. “Who is this?”

“I’m Kensington, their aunt,” Aunt K smiled, stepping forward to shake hands with the twins’ teacher.

Triggs shook her hand and held onto it, as if forgetting that her hand was not his own. Kensington seemed similarly enraptured by Triggs, but gently slipped her hand out of his. Alice and Jason glanced at each other, eyes narrowed.

“Triggs, uh, Alvar, Alvar Triggs,” Triggs fumbled.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you Alvar. I hate to run out, but I really must be going,” Kensington replied.

“Oh, of course, pleasure to meet you,” Triggs said, though his smile seemed to slip a bit as she moved away from him to the fireplace.

Kensington gave the twins a last quick hug before casting a tiny glance back at Triggs and stepping into the green fire. Triggs watched her leave with puppy dog eyes. Alice and Jason glared at him. Triggs turned and his dopey smile disappeared upon noticing their identical glares.

“What? You guys should be getting up to the dormitories, it’s almost curfew,” Triggs said.

“Yes, sir, Professor Smooth,” Alice deadpanned as the twins walked past him towards the stairs.

Triggs stared after them in confusion but shrugged and continued on his way. He couldn’t really wipe the stupid grin off his face, even as he entered Dumbledore’s office.

“Pleasant evening?” Dumbledore grinned slyly, his blue eyes twinkling.

Triggs smirked and glared at him. Dumbledore chuckled to himself as he set his book down and turned in his seat to face Triggs. After a pointed stare, Triggs sighed, acquiescing to sit while giving his report, though his knee bounced the entire time.

“I got a message from your agent in Albania… they’re not in Albania anymore,” Triggs stated with a rueful grin.

“What? Why? Has something happened?” Dumbledore leaned forward in his chair suddenly alarmed.

“They didn’t say, just that they were following up on a lead. Something about the change in the forest of Albania, that someone was there and is now heading west,” Triggs reported. He paused, looking down at his rapidly bouncing knee before he drew a deep breath and continued. “They want to meet with you.”

“That’s simply not possible. Not during the school year. The risks are too great,” Dumbledore stated firmly.

“That’s the response I sent back, but,” Triggs sighed.

“But what? Do you question this response?” Dumbledore asked.

“No, I agree with you, it’s just that… the risks are far greater for this agent out in the field! I mean, none of the students would know the agent! It’s not like you risk someone recognizing them and telling dark forces,” Triggs answered with a sarcastic quirk of the eyebrow.

“That’s my answer. Tell the agent to direct all future messages to the Hog’s Head,” Dumbledore said calmly as he picked back up his book. “You are dismissed Alvar.”

Triggs deadpanned.

How could the Headmaster be so cautious about this? It was his caution that let the Dark Lord rise to power, and now that they were facing threats of dark forces once again gathering he did nothing! Triggs sighed and headed for the door. Before he could slam the door behind him, however, Dumbledore called after him.

“Alvar, I know you don’t understand my reasons,” Dumbledore began softly. “Sometimes, I doubt that even I know,” he muttered more to himself than to the professor. “But you have to trust me. It is our unity that will keep us through this threat. Whether it ever comes to pass or not, we must remain firm and united. Thank you for your work.”

“Don’t mention it,” Triggs replied gently before softly closing the door to the office.


	17. A Spirit of Chaos Teams Up With Peeves the Poltergeist

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: all thoughts expressed about Slytherins are Alice's and not my own

Slytherin absolutely crushed Hufflepuff in their Quidditch match. That put Slytherin and Ravenclaw both with two wins, but Slytherin had already beaten Ravenclaw so the best Ravenclaw could do was second place. Slytherin had a chance for a sweep of the tournament, or Gryffindor could win their match and, depending on by how many points, they could still take the cup.

There wasn’t much hope for this however. The Slytherin team was incredible this year, and the Gryffindor team, well, they were just glad to have a full roster.

Lee Jordan had been going over players’ stats and possible strategies all week, telling anyone who would listen his harebrained schemes. Alice was currently the unlucky soul Lee had grabbed in the library. He was describing in complete detail his game plan, which would maybe be possible for professional Quidditch players to pull off but was far beyond the ability of the Gryffindor team.

“Lee, would you stuff it?! The only way we’re gonna even stand a chance is if the Slytherin team manages to break all their arms before the game,” George complained, chucking a book at the boy.

“Actually, that’s not a bad idea,” Fred whispered to the others, smirking.

A swift swat upside the back of his head silenced him immediately. McGonagall stood behind the twins glowering down at the group. She had evidently heard Fred’s suggestion.

“There will be no more discussion of that! Be intelligent, if you were caught attacking the Slytherin players you’d be suspended from the team and then we’d _really_ be in trouble. Also, broken bones are fixed easily,” she said sternly, with a slight quirk to her eyebrow. After McGonagall walked away from the table, Fred looked up over at the others.

“Did McGonagall just tell us to do something worse than break their bones and to not get caught?” Fred asked, a bit scared. The others were wide-eyed and afraid to speak.

Shaking their heads, the group returned to their homework, even Lee who had thankfully forgotten about telling Alice his ingenious game plan. Alice returned to her paper for Potions class, which was ridiculous by the way, involving things they hadn’t even gone over in class. Hence why she was in the library, burying her face into every potions book she could find. It had taken nearly an hour to find the books with the topics she needed, and that was only after Emily had pointed them out—she had already finished her paper, leaving Alice to struggle to finish her own at the last minute.

Alice’s eyelids were growing increasingly heavy. She was so tired she had to keep re-reading every other sentence to even comprehend what it was talking about. She didn’t notice the sun going down, prompting the lanterns to be lit in place of the light from the sunshine through the tall windows. Fred had only done work for about half an hour before quitting and using his books as a pillow. George was busy turning his notes into paper birds and airplanes and shooting them at anyone within sight. Alice wasn’t sure that Lee had ever been doing homework to begin with as he was sketching out plays for the final Quidditch game.

The words on the page were gibberish to Alice, and they blurred out as her lids once more closed of their own accord. Her hand could no longer prop up her head it seemed as her cheek slid right off her palm and her forehead thumped down onto the book on the table. Alice was suddenly awake from the impact, a hand going to her aching forehead as she grimaced in pain. The thud had briefly woken Fred, but only enough to where he shifted position. She had jarred Lee’s hand, though, so that he was now cursing as he tried to fix his drawing.

The aching finally faded, and Alice opened her eyes. She paused, eyes widening as she stared down at the book. Looking up to the others, she tried to suppress a smirk.

“What if we took them out some other way?” Alice suggested, keeping her voice low.

It took a few minutes for the boys to even figure out what she was talking about but as soon as they remembered their conversation with McGonagall they all leaned in eagerly to hear this plan. Alice turned the book around so that the twins across the table could read it. She pointed to a potion called Bulbadox Powder.

“So, it causes people to break out in painful boils, which would make it pretty uncomfortable to sit on a broom! All we have to do is track down the ingredients and then we can put this in their Quidditch robes right before the game and they either won’t be able to play or they’ll be in too much pain to be a real threat!” she explained conspiratorially. 

“But they’ll be suspended from the team if they get caught! Then both teams would be in the same boat,” Lee objected, gesturing to Fred and George.

“They won’t get caught, because they won’t be the ones doing it. I’ll do it,” Alice stated.

The boys each quirked a brow, looking at her skeptically. Alice drew herself up, offended.

“You don’t think I can do it!” she accused angrily.

“No, we don’t think you _will_ do it,” Fred clarified. Alice squeaked indignantly.

“I am just as much of a trouble-maker as you, Fred Weasley!” she complained.

“Yeah but this is big-time, you could get in serious trouble and you’d have to sneak into their locker rooms,” George replied.

“I can be very stealthy when I want!” Alice defended.

“I don’t know, talking about it is one thing, doing it is another. Plus, I don’t think that’ll be enough, you can still play with painful boils, you’d have to go bigger to really incapacitate them,” Fred said as the other boys nodded in agreement.

 “Okay, so I’ll do more,” Alice returned, grinning slyly.

“And how would you do that?” Lee asked.

“I have my ways,” Alice smirked, thinking of a certain Christmas gift that would be instrumental in the plots forming in her mind.

* * *

A group of Slytherins walked down the corridor, laughing and talking. A black-haired boy chuckled at his friend’s joke and stepped forward, but his side was bumped brusquely. He glanced over to see if he had clipped a suit of armor but there was at least a foot between him and the nearest pillar or statue. The boy shook his head and turned back to his friends.

Alice grimaced; not that anyone could see it. Gosh! Why couldn’t people watch where they were going? She pushed herself back up to her feet from where she had been knocked to the floor. Rubbing her aching shoulder, Alice glared after the Slytherins, specifically the burly boy who seemed to have been made of steel. She had rebounded off of him like a pinball, while he had barely felt a bump. Alice stuck her invisible tongue out after his retreating back and adjusted her invisibility jacket which had slipped down a shoulder from the fall.

Continuing down the corridor and taking the stairs down to the dungeons, Alice hummed the Indiana Jones theme song. She suddenly determined that she needed theme music for her stunts. That was clearly the one thing missing from making her adventures legendary and she decided she would dedicate herself to figuring out how to make a Walkman work in Hogwarts. There had to be some kind of charm she could figure out.

Alice had just finished a round of the theme song, luckily, when she heard footsteps down the hall. She had to fight the urge to duck into an alcove, reminding herself that she was invisible and it would do better to simply hide in plain sight. She cursed mentally as a familiar gloomy figure turned the corner and stalked straight towards her.

Snape’s robes flapped after him as he stalked hurriedly straight down the corridor. Alice sidestepped to let him pass by without bumping into her. Suddenly, Snape stopped. He couldn’t place it but it felt like something was off in the corridor. He cocked his head to listen for the slightest sound. Alice tried to breath as silently as she could as she stood motionless, praying that Snape would continue on. She didn’t dare try to move lest he hear her footsteps or rustling clothes.

Snape turned and peered straight through her. His gaze scanned the corridor, but he could find nothing. Finally, shaking his head for being paranoid, he continued on and ascended the stairs.

Alice breathed a sigh of relief and danced down the corridor, now to Jackson 5’s “I want you back” humming in her head… and partly out loud.

After a brief dance through the corridors in the dungeons, Alice reached the spot. She had managed to convince Peeves to tell her where the entrance to the Slytherin common room was hidden… all right, so she had had to bribe him with some of her prank paraphernalia. She considered warning the first-year boys about paint bombs, but upon second thought it would be pretty funny seeing that irritating Cormac boy splattered in pink.

Alice had made good time. She had a few minutes before the Slytherin third-years got out of Charms and headed back to the dorms. Alice simply sat herself down on the cold stone floor and hummed “Highway to Hell” as she drew patterns on the wall with her finger. There was an unexpected amount of dust on the stone walls so that her drawings actually stayed as outlines in it. Considering it would be unlikely that Slytherins would doodle smiley faces, Alice added a snake coming from the smile to make the smiley face appear more menacing and Slytherin-y.

She had just finished her masterpiece when she heard a group of students coming down the hall. Alice scrambled to her feet and waited by the stone wall. A group of three Slytherins came into view, one of which was Bole, one of the Beaters on the Slytherin Quidditch team. Alice grinned. How considerate of her targets to present themselves so early on into her plot.

The Slytherins walked up to a spot in front of the stone wall and stopped. The girl in the group, a tall and skinny blonde with a face as cold as marble, spoke the password.

“Victory,” she grinned slightly as Bole chuckled. Alice rolled her eyes. Slytherins were so cocky, they hadn’t even won yet for crying out loud!

The stone wall slid away in part to reveal a dark passageway. Alice let the three Slytherins enter first and then tagged along after them. She had just gotten through the passageway when the wall slid back behind her with a scraping of stone that made her cringe.

Coming out of the dark passageway, Alice entered into the Slytherin common room. She wasn’t surprised by the décor or location.

Small windows in the walls close to the low ceiling revealed greenish water and aquatic creatures occasionally swimming past. The common room was under the lake, well that would fit with the view of Slytherins as slimy bottom-feeders. The water and greenish lamps cast a green tint to the entire room, which wasn’t quite necessary as everything in the room was already green, silver, or black. 

“I mean, the Gryffindor common room certainly exhibits the house colors, but not exclusively!” Alice thought. “Oh, there’s skulls too, of course,” she remarked internally, noticing the diverse array of skulls dispersed throughout the room. “No wonder the Slytherins are all so _cheery_ ,” she thought sarcastically. Oh well, onto business!

Bole and his friends draped themselves across the chairs and couches. Alice really needed the common room cleared to set up some of her more complicated pranks, but she might as well get a quick trick in here while she could. Luckily for her, Bole stuck his feet under a coffee table, hiding them from his own view. Alice got down on her belly and slid herself under the coffee table. 

Alice deftly untied Bole’s shoes and then tied the laces together as lightly as a butterfly, a skill that neither her father nor brother had ever really appreciated. She pushed herself out from under the coffee table and hastened over to the fireplace. Checking her pockets, Alice triumphantly pulled out some fireworks Lee had given her. Tossing them into the crackling fire, Alice ducked behind a chair as sparks and flames leapt out, sending tongues of flame and sparkles shooting out into the common room. 

The three Slytherins were momentarily struck motionless, but that was quickly corrected. The girl screamed and ducked as she ran up the stairs to the girls’ dormitories. The other boy got smacked right in the face with a burst of sparkles that set his bangs on fire. He hastily beat the flames out and raced off up a different set of stairs. Bole, in an effort to get away from a particularly persistent trail of purple sparkles, actually tumbled off the back of the chair. He tried to get to his feet but fell flat on his face upon finding his shoes tied together. Bole tried to untie his laces but the purple sparkles were back buzzing around his head and sparking much too close for comfort to his hair. Instead he kicked off his shoes and raced up the stairs in his socks.

Alice was rolling with laughter, thankful there was no one left to hear her mirth. Wiping tears from her eyes she got to her feet. She had to hastily duck as a flurry of red and blue sparks raced towards her. It flew over her head and to the ceiling where it burst and fizzled out along with the remaining sparks. 

Hands on her hips, Alice surveyed the room. The signs of scuffle were quickly modified; she couldn’t have anyone suspecting foul play. This wasn’t going to be a war of physical violence, but more of a psychological attack.

With a flick of her wand, Alice switched all the lampshades from green to crimson. The couch cushions too. The silver tables turned to gold and bronze. She switched the skulls and snake décor to eagles and lions and badgers. She even turned a full suit of armor into a life-size lion rearing on its hind legs. With a chuckle, she moved this to right in front of the entrance—that would give the Slytherins a nice welcome!

Once the redecoration was finished, which to be honest did wonders for the ambience, Alice got to the real business. She had studied up—well, she had gotten Jason to study up on how to make person-specific spells. Of course, she hadn’t told him what it was for, otherwise he wouldn’t have helped her; Ravenclaw stood to gain more from a Slytherin win than a loss. Still, it took him forever to find it, and only in a really old and worn book so that the twins doubted it was used much now. Regardless it was pretty simple and just required an extra tag with the person’s name added to the beginning of a spell.

She set a Sticking Charm for Bletchley on the chairs and couches, some Anti-gravity Mist for Derrick and Bole, a flock of birds set to attack Pucey and Warrington, a charmed lion statue to capture Flint, and a Light Spell to flash every time Waithe looked at any of the doors. Since Bole had so kindly left behind his shoes, Alice went ahead and splashed a few drops of Swelling Solution in there. A few more general charms were set purely for her own amusement. Satisfied with the common room, Alice decided it was time to track down each in turn. 

Before she could head upstairs to hit Bole with a Leg Locker Curse, the passageway opened. A wall-rattling roar burst from the lion statue as it was faced with a group of Slytherins. A few students screamed while others raced back out through the passageway. Warrington and Bletchley ducked past the lion and stared in open-mouthed fury at the redecoration of the common room.

“What the bloody hell? Is this some kind of joke?” Bletchley swore.

Before anyone could respond, a flock of birds hurtled from the mantle to swarm around Warrington.

“Bloody hell! Get these damn birds off of me!” Warrington exclaimed, flailing his arms at the birds while trying to cover his head from their pecking and flapping.

“Where the hell did they even come from?” Bletchley snapped as he tried to beat at the swarming birds. They didn’t take too well to this treatment and a few went after Bletchley who stumbled back and tripped over the back of the couch. The birds returned to swarm Warrington while Bletchley tried to push himself up, only to find that his back was stuck to the seat of the couch, his legs to the back cushions. “What the hell!”

Alice was trying so very hard not to burst out laughing as Warrington flailed at the birds, stumbling into a spot in the floor Alice had softened, making his feet sink down into the stone that was now the consistency of jelly. Some of the other Slytherins had apparently found and set off her Cauterwhaling Charm, setting everyone to clutching at their ears as the horrible shrieking echoed through the dungeons. Alice figured that was her cue to leave and slipped past the Slytherins by the entrance.

Hastening out of the passageway, Alice was nearly bowled over by Snape and Triggs. She just managed to scramble out of their way, barely brushing past Triggs’ elbow. Triggs paused and looked to his side, but at an angry bark from Snape he continued through the passageway.

Alice bent over, hands on her knees, trying to steady her breathing and heart rate. What with the laughter and then the scare of nearly getting caught by Snape and Triggs, her heart was understandably having a minor freak out. With a great exhale, Alice straightened and, dodging the Slytherins racing towards the common room, exited the dungeons. 

She breathed in a great breath as sunlight and fresh air struck her upon reaching the main floor. She hadn’t realized just how musky and chill the dungeons were until once more faced with the clean smell of fresh air and the warmth of sunlight through the windows. She was glad to be once more above ground, only mildly wary of having to return for future pranks, but the results were worth it.

* * *

Madam Pomfrey couldn’t understand it. She had students coming in droves, exhibiting the effects of all kinds of different potions and spells, but no one had any idea how it happened! She quietly suspected duels, which were forbidden, but even so one would expect the victim to rat out their enemy. Unless it was some kind of club.

“What is it now?” she barked, hastening to the student being ushered in by Professor McGonagall. He was in Slytherin robes, but she didn’t recognize the small boy. He must’ve been a first-year, she hadn’t quite yet pinned down all of their names.

“Mr. Flint seems to have been snuck a Shrinking Solution,” McGonagall answered tersely.

Madam Pomfrey’s eyes widened. Marcus Flint? Shrinking Solution indeed, he was usually over six feet but now was below five, and seemed to continue to shrink by the minute.

“This way,” Madam Pomfrey clucked, directing the boy out of McGonagall’s hands and to a bed. 

The boy had to practically jump to get onto the cot. His brow was already quite pronounced, but now it seemed to cast his entire face into shadow he wore such a dark expression. Once he had managed to sit himself atop the bed, he crossed his steadily shrinking arms over his little chest.

“He was at lunch when it happened, I suspect someone slipped it into his drink,” McGonagall explained, coming up alongside the bed.

“Did you see anyone mess with your drink, boy?” Madam Pomfrey asked peremptorily as she bustled over to the cabinet.

Marcus Flint’s steadily fattening face remained stern, his lips clamped tight. It was strange seeing the stern Flint with a baby face as he aged backwards. He now seemed to be about ten. The potion was rather strong, which either meant the brewer knew their stuff… or really didn’t at all and mistakenly created a strong brew.

“He won’t speak, it seems he’s reverted back to before his voice deepened,” McGonagall explained straining to conceal a grin. 

She had to cover her lips with her hand and briefly turn away, which just made the younger Flint glower darker, of course on a baby face it didn’t have the same effect as it did when on his normal one. Madam Pomfrey cast McGonagall an amused glance before returning to Marcus with an Aging Potion.

“Drink up, that’s it!” Madam Pomfrey commanded, handing Flint a small cup of the potion.

He practically snatched the cup from her hand and gulped it down eagerly. Madam Pomfrey cast a glance to McGonagall and the two women moved away from the bed. Madam Pomfrey gazed out over the occupied beds, mostly Slytherin students but there were a few from the other houses too, suffering from varying spells and potions; from Bat Bogey Hexes to Babbling Beverages.

“We’re facing an epidemic here,” Madam Pomfrey told McGonagall in a hushed tone.

“Someone is doing this, we just can’t figure out who, no one’s seen anything!” McGonagall replied exasperatedly. 

“Are there any leads? This is getting out of hand, you heard about the Slytherin common room that started all of this?” Madam Pomfrey questioned.

“Yes, I did hear about that,” McGonagall again tried to hide a smirk. “We assume this is due to the rising tensions regarding the Gryffindor versus Slytherin match, of course if that were so this person has been getting some of their own caught in the crossfires,” she continued more seriously. “Regardless, whoever’s responsible must be incredibly skilled, intelligent, and dedicated. It’s probably an older student…”

* * *

Alice peered at the board, trying to make sense out of the nonsense that was scribbled on it. Snape swept between the desks peering at everything with contempt. Alice rolled her eyes as he stopped beside her desk, glowering down at her cauldron.

“You have added too many jobberknoll feathers, this Forgetfulness Potion is more likely to induce headaches than cause anyone to lose memory,” Snape sneered and continued on.

“Really, professor? Well, it’s a little late for me to remedy that now isn’t it? Maybe if your handwriting was legible I would know the right amount!” Alice grumbled to herself as she viciously chopped up ingredients. “Of course, a headache potion could prove useful,” she whispered to herself with a grin and poured a bit of her potion into a small vial and tucked it in her pocket.

“What are you muttering about?” Emily whispered over to Alice.

“Oh, nothing, Snape’s just a dolt,” Alice replied. Emily nodded.

Alice couldn’t get out of Potions fast enough. Her stomach was rumbling so loud she swore it was going to rupture eardrums soon if she didn’t appease it. Slipping her small frame through the crowd she made her way to the front of the pack to head for the Great Hall.

“Miss Connen!” a familiar voice called from behind. Alice almost burst into tears at the thought of postponing food. She gathered her composure though and turned around to face Triggs with a tight curve of her lips that she hoped would pass for a smile. “Could I speak with you for a minute?” Triggs asked. Alice internally screamed but nodded. She waved Emily on (who promised to save her some pastries) and followed Triggs to his office.

Triggs didn’t say anything for a long while until he was settled in his chair behind his desk. He steepled his fingers and peered over at her with narrowed eyes.

“I know it’s you,” Triggs stated. Alice blinked carelessly.

“What’s me?” she threw back listlessly. She was too hungry to really care what he was talking about.

“You’ve been pranking the Slytherins, I’m assuming to cover your real targets, their Quidditch team.”

Well Triggs had hit the nail on the head. Alice raised a brow and nodded at him approvingly. She shrugged and grinned.

“How do you know it’s me?” she asked curiously.

“You’re fiercely competitive, you’re friends with Gryffindor Quidditch players, you love pranks, and no one’s seen anything and I seem to recall you possessing an invisibility jacket,” Triggs smirked.

“So are you gonna turn me in? Tell me to stop? I can’t, I’ve still got more to do. Plus, even if I did, some things are already in the works, I couldn’t stop ‘em if I tried,” she grinned triumphantly.

“Well, your aunt would have me turn you in, but I actually think your work is helping you learn, you’ve certainly been studying a lot of spells beyond the first-year curriculum,” Triggs replied.

“You’ve been talking to my aunt?” Alice demanded, eyes wide.

“I’ll have to take points for sure, but I also don’t have any solid proof that you’re responsible for past events or are planning any future ones,” Triggs gave her a pointed glance at the last comment.

“Okay, okay, whatever, but let’s go back a bit! When have you been talking to my aunt? Why?” Alice demanded in exasperation.

“Kensington and I have—“

“Kensington? You call her Kensington?” Alice interrupted, but Triggs continued as if she hadn’t.

“—been exchanging letters or meeting up when she’s near the area. She’s quite an interesting and entertaining woman,” Triggs commented admiringly.

“Well, yeah, she’s Aunt K, she’s awesome! But why are you guys talking and meeting?” Alice pushed.

“Well, I—we, well—I like her,” Triggs admitted hesitantly.

“Ew!” Alice visibly shuddered. “Isn’t there some kind of rule against that?”

“There’s not actually,” Triggs answered with a chuckle.

“Did you look it up?” Alice asked, eyes narrowed. Triggs avoided her gaze and cleared his throat uncomfortably. “You did.”

“Never mind that,” Triggs coughed, a faint blush rising in his cheeks. “This meeting is about you, and whatever disciplinary action I choose to take,” he warned. “I think, fifty points from Gryffindor and detention with me this weekend.”

“Seems fair,” Alice shrugged.

“So we have a deal then?” Triggs asked. Alice nodded and the two shook on it. Alice settled back in her chair and studied Triggs with narrowed eyes.

“Are you dating my aunt?” she asked.

“Well—I don’t know if you’d call it dating—“

“That’s a yes. Well, thanks for the minor punishment, no thanks for the info that you’re seeing Aunt K,” Alice said as she got ready to leave. Triggs chuckled and waved as Alice left the office.

If he had known what she would get into after leaving, Triggs may have started her detention then and there.

Alice was on her way to meet Emily at the Great Hall and appease her grumbling stomach—that is until an opportunity presented itself that she just couldn’t pass up! Alec Waithe, the Slytherin Seeker, and Adrian Pucey, a Slytherin Chaser, were just around the corner. Alice didn’t have her invisibility jacket, but she could do without, it would just take a bit more effort. She checked through her bag to see what potions or objects she had and grinned evilly: she had Garroting Gas.

Alice pulled off her outer robe, balled it up and stuffed it into her bag. She then fastened her bag tightly across her chest and situated it behind her back. Peeking her head around the corner, she saw Pucey and Waithe sitting and talking in a window sill further down the corridor. She needed to get closer, but she couldn’t be seen in case they remembered that she was around near the prank, then she would be a suspect for sure.

Alice dove and rolled into an alcove in the corridor. Pulling her shirt up over her mouth and nose and fastening it into her hair with a few bobby pins, Alice placed a hand and foot on one side of the wall, her other foot and hand on the opposite wall, and scaled up to the ceiling. Here, she pressed her back against the ceiling and adjusted her hands and feet to the very top parts of the walls. From this point she crawled along the ceiling out of the alcove and towards the Slytherin boys. She had learned years ago that when expecting surprises, people rarely looked upwards, so she snuck upon the boys until she was literally right above them without being seen.

Here, she had to adjust herself, moving her hands and feet further down the walls while pressing her back firmly against the ceiling. Making sure she was secure, Alice gently removed one hand from its place on the wall and retrieved the bottle of Garroting Gas from her bag behind her. She dropped the bottle and quickly returned her hand to the wall for better leverage.

The boys started at the falling bottle which shattered on the floor near them, seemingly empty. They looked at it suspiciously, but before they could say anything they both toppled to the floor. Alice held her breath for as long as she could before she finally had to take a gasp of breath. Considering she didn’t immediately pass out, she guessed the invisible gas had already cleared.

Dropping from the ceiling, Alice landed heavily on the floor before the unconscious Slytherins. She winced at the landing as pain shot up her ankle, cursing herself for not climbing down gently. Trying to keep pressure off her injured ankle, Alice crept closer to the Slytherins, sifting through her bag for her wand and some ink.

“What’s going on here?” a crotchety voice wheezed.

Alice jumped, eyes wide, her head shooting up to catch sight of Filch standing at the other end of the corridor. Well, this was just great!

“I don’t know, I just found them like this,” Alice innocently explained. “I think they’re unconscious.”

Filch shuffled closer and his face grew dark. He lifted a gnarled finger to point at her as his brows drew down low over his glaring eyes.

“You did this! It’s been you all this time, probably in tandem with the Weasleys!” Filch accused angrily as he hastened towards her.

Rolling her eyes and groaning, Alice immediately dropped the innocent act and bolted down the opposite end of the corridor. “Hey! Get back here!” Filch roared after her, and from the shuffling and flapping she heard behind her Alice assumed he was giving chase.

She tore down corridors, taking sharp turns that more than once sent her sliding into a wall. Well at least she would know where _these_ bruises came from. She was running as fast as she possibly could, but still she couldn’t shake the sound of Filch’s flapping feet and gasping breaths. Finally, out of breath, her legs burning, Alice dove into an alcove and waited, trying to quiet her rasping breaths.

Filch stumbled past the alcove, stopping at the next corridor to glance down both ends, trying to determine which way she had gone. Alice snuck out of the alcove, her eyes glued to Filch as she tried to silently tiptoe back the way she had come. Because her attention was focused on Filch, she didn’t see Mrs. Norris behind her and stepped on the cat’s tail. Alice jumped from the cat’s cry and cursed as Filch turned to spot her.

“Now you’ve done it!” he gasped angrily, hastening towards her, seeming to have gotten a second wind at Mrs. Norris’ cry of pain.

Alice stumbled around the hissing cat and down another corridor, but she knew she couldn’t go much further. She raced down the corridor and nearly ran headlong into a suit of armor which had apparently stepped out into the middle of the hall. She skidded to a halt right in front of the suit of armor, behind which a familiar grinning, floating face emerged.

“Why, Miss Connen!” Peeves declared. “You seem to be in quite a hurry!” he grinned mischievously.

“I’d love to stay and chat, Peeves, but Filch is on my tail,” she gasped, trying to rush around the suit of armor and poltergeist, but Peeves moved to block her.

“And you’re just going to run?” Filch clicked his tongue and shook his head disappointedly. “Miss Connen, I thought you were better than that,” he said.

“What would you have me do?” she exclaimed, casting nervous glances over her shoulder as Filch’s wheezing grew louder.

“What do you have in your bag?” Peeves asked, floating over her to peer over her shoulder and into her bag as she shuffled through it.

“Books, a robe, some fireworks, a penknife, and—“ Alice’s eyes widened and Peeves hooted.

“Here’s what we’re going to do,” Peeves told her triumphantly.

* * *

That blasted kid! She had been behind all the pranks that had been plaguing Filch for the past week! He had grown tired of cleaning up the messes left by her scourge of dungbombs, splattered paint, softened spots in the floors all throughout the castle, cauterwhaling charms going off everywhere! Filch was sick of it!

He was finally going to catch her, and probably the Weasley twins too, they were always causing trouble alongside this Connen girl. And when he caught them and presented them to the headmaster, he would finally get the credit he was due. Maybe the kids would even get expelled, oh wouldn’t that be a treat! Dumbledore might also start listening to Filch about banning certain items as well.

“Come on Mrs. Norris! We’ve got her this time!” Filch wheezed to the cat racing alongside him down the corridor.

They turned down a passage and skidded to a halt.

Up ahead, the Connen girl and that blasted Peeves were standing in the corridor grinning. But it wasn’t them standing there that gave Filch pause and made his eyes grow wide. They stood, holding back a stretched piece of fabric in which a balloon was cradled and aimed directly at him. Alice and Peeves grinned equally sinister grins as they let go of the slingshot.

Filch tried to duck back around the corner, but the balloon raced straight at him and burst upon him before he got back to the end of the corridor. He was suddenly enveloped in a thick, sticky purple substance. He tried to move his arms and legs, but the goop seemed to solidify around him until he was stuck in a hardened shell of purple slime. Mrs. Norris mewed up at him as she paced around the shell.

Alice and Peeves hooted, grinning, and high-fived. Alice then gathered up her things and raced off down the other end of the corridor and disappeared. Peeves flew over to Filch and hovered before him upside down.

“Looks like you’ve gotten yourself into a _sticky_ situation,” Peeves grinned and laughed manically at his little joke. Filch growled and glared daggers at the poltergeist.

“I’ll have you thrown out of this castle, Peeves!” Filch threatened.

“You seem to be rather _stuck_ on that mission, Filch,” Peeves taunted. “But despite your current situation, I’m more attached to this castle than you are! You’ll go long before me!”

Peeves hooted and hollered as he flipped and flew up into the ceiling singing “Stuck on You.” Filch roared in frustration as he glared around the empty corridor. He looked down at Mrs. Norris who was staring up at him expectantly.

“Go get help,” he grumbled to the cat, who hastily trotted off, leaving Filch stuck in the corridor.

* * *

Alice didn’t stop running until she was two floors up from where she had left Filch. Failing to hide her grin she stopped to catch her breath and once more pictured Filch’s face when he had seen her and Peeves holding back that slingshot with the slime-trap balloon. She brushed some stray hairs out of her face and once more headed down towards the Great Hall for food.

Her stomach growled angrily and Alice hastened her pace. She was practically running by the time she got to the main floor. Tearing around a corner, she ran straight into a solid body. Rebounding off of the bigger student, Alice fell backwards into another student who instinctively steadied her. The other kid she had run into didn’t have such luck and tumbled to the floor, his arm getting twisted strangely under him.

Alice’s eyes widened to the size of saucers as she stared down at Cal Warrington, a Slytherin Chaser, clutching his arm.

“You broke my arm!” he groaned accusingly, failing to hold back a few tears from the pain.

McGonagall flew out of the Great Hall at the commotion. She bent down over Warrington and helped him to his feet. She cast a stern glance over the other students staring down in shock.

“What happened here?” McGonagall demanded.

“She broke my arm,” Warrington whined, pointing with his uninjured arm at Alice.

McGonagall glared at Alice pointedly, who stared back at her still in shock.

“I did _not_ mean to do _that_!” Alice exclaimed once she found her voice.

* * *

“You broke his arm?” Fred asked for about the tenth time as he, George, and Lee shook their heads disbelievingly.

“I thought that was the one thing we decided against!” George exclaimed.

“I didn’t _mean_ to! I was hungry!” Alice protested. “And McGonagall gave me detention for it! It was an accident! I already have to do detention with Triggs because he knew about all my pranks! This is so unfair!”

“Yeah, especially because of all the effort you put into it,” Lee Jordan shook his head. “Shame none of it counted for you guys’ prank war.”

Alice’s face drained of all color and she stared at Lee Jordan in shock. Fred and George burst out laughing as she raced over to the board tracking their scores. She was still down by ten points and had used up most of her prank items on this stupid campaign against the Slytherins.

She had used up her energy and resources on a battle and forgotten the war. The war that ended tomorrow after the game.


	18. Peeves is a Sell-Out and Mrs. Norris Is Why I'm A Dog Person

“Alice, what are you doing?”

The sudden voice made Alice leap three feet in the air and jerk the string she had been tying to the doorknob. Her gasp of surprise quickly turned to shrieks and cursing as the fireworks at the other end of the string burst open sending sparks shooting out at her. Patting down her clothes just in case any sparks had gotten caught, she found Jason standing behind her and looking down judgmentally. She cast such a glare that could curdle milk at her brother, making him smirk.

“Well, I was trying to set a trap for Fred and George, but you blew it!” she accused angrily.

“Actually, you blew it,” Jason chuckled at his play-on-words. Alice just rolled her eyes.

“Now I see why you’re in Ravenclaw,” she grumbled sarcastically.

“You’re really scraping the bottom of the barrel if you’re going back to string on the door handle,” Jason critiqued.

“Yeah, well, what I didn’t use on the Slytherins I gave to Peeves for the insider info, so I’m running on fumes here,” she grumbled as she kicked the blasted remains of the fireworks. She jumped slightly as it emitted a small shower of sparks that went skidding across the floor.

“You know, I could help,” Jason offered. Alice quirked an eyebrow and grinned patronizingly.

“Sorry, li’l bro, but this is a bit out of your league,” she chuckled, moving past him to return to her room for more supplies.

“I guess you’re forgetting the April Fool’s of 1987,” Jason called after her.

Alice stopped dead in her tracks. Her eyes narrowed and she seethed as she turned slowly back to see Jason’s smug grin widen.

“I out-pranked both you and dad,” he said.

“You got lucky that year,” she spat. Jason quirked an eyebrow.

“Oh really? Was it luck that made that fake report card? Was it luck that the principal called? Was it also luck that the kid pretended to be hit by our car? Or what about the cop that pulled us over—“

“Alright, so you won that one year! But you wasted all your best stuff on us, so we never fell for it again—“

“Good thing Fred and George weren’t there,” Jason interrupted grinning.

Alice was torn. Jason did have a certain skill with forging documents and recruiting helpers to his pranks. He was excellent at elaborate pranks that would garner her big points fast—but she just couldn’t fathom accepting _pranking_ help from her brother! It just went against all the laws of nature! But she was pretty desperate…

“Fine!” she spat with a fierce glare. Jason grinned. “So you got an idea or what?”

“Oh, I’ve got plenty!”

* * *

Fred, George, Lee, Angelina, and Alicia sat at breakfast. George was tossing bits of bread over at Percy so that he kept glaring over and yelling at his brother. The usual chattering hum of the Great Hall was progressively over taken with giggles and chuckles, starting from the entrance and making its way down the tables. The group turned their heads at the commotion and burst into laughter as Alice, covered in flowers that were stuck fast all over her clothes and in her hair, made her way to the group.

Sliding onto the bench Alice didn’t even blink as she glared at the twins who were doubled over their plates in laughter. Angelina and Alicia at least had tact and tried to subdue their chuckles, though they couldn’t hide their grins. Emily made her way over to the group and sat down next to Alice, looking curiously at her “adornments.”

“Did I miss something?” Emily asked, quirking an eyebrow. Fred and George just laughed harder and even the girls had trouble passing off their laughter as coughs. Alice gave the twins a death stare but began piling food onto her plate.

Percy noticed the situation and hurried over to Alice. Glaring at his brothers he removed the Permanent Sticking Charm the twins had placed on the flowers so that they fell from Alice’s clothes and hair. She shook her clothes and hair out just for good measure.

“Aw, I thought you looked pretty,” Fred joked.

Alice’s response was interrupted by the arrival of the morning post. An old bundle of gray feathers came hurtling down to the table to skid across the surface and tumble into a bowl of fruit.

“Oi! Erroll!” George groaned as he plucked the flustered and weary owl from the wreckage. Finding a letter addressed to the twins, George removed it from Erroll’s leg. 

The owl immediately flying off should have been a sign to the Weasley twins, and if not that then surely Alice’s smug smirk should have tipped them off, however they missed both indicators and tore open the seal. The envelope flew up into the air, the fold facing the twins and flapping as the letter’s contents roared out over the noise of the Great Hall. Everyone turned to watch as Mrs. Weasley’s voice shrieked.

“YOU’RE WHAT?! HOW COULD YOU NOT HAVE TOLD US YOU TWO ARE FAILING! YOUR FATHER AND I HAVE TOLD YOU COUNTLESS TIMES NOT TO SLACK OFF! IF YOU DON’T PULL UP YOUR GRADES SOON YOU CAN KISS QUIDDITCH GOODBYE!” 

The Howler caught fire and burned up before falling to the table as ashes. Fred’s and George’s faces had completely drained of color—the ghosts looked livelier than they! The boys sat gaping and blinking at the pile of ashes. Everyone was staring at the twins in shock, the Gryffindors in horror at the thought of losing their best Beaters. Finally, color returned to the twins’ faces and they drew themselves up angrily.

“This is rubbish!” Fred erupted.

“We aren’t bloody failing! And who are they to say we can’t play Quidditch!” George exclaimed.

The twins looked to their friends who were looking at them shamefacedly from second-hand embarrassment… all except Alice who was grinning widely. The twins narrowed their eyes at her.

“What did you do?” they demanded in threatening tones. Alice shrugged grinning.

“I may have sent a letter to your parents that looked like it was from the school,” she explained smugly.

“How?” Fred asked angrily.

“With a little Muggle trick called forgery,” she grinned in response. Lee glanced nervously between the twins and Alice before looking down at his plate, trying to hide a grin.

“Thirty points,” he muttered. The twins rounded on him angrily while Alice beamed at him, overjoyed.

“Means you’re down fifteen points, boys!” she cheered. The twins glared at their friend.

“I told you we shouldn’t have let him be the judge!” George grumbled to Fred.

Alice was still dancing in her seat in celebration when Triggs came up behind her.

“The headmaster would like to see you,” Triggs said to Alice, who gulped a bit, nervous that she was getting in trouble.

Fred and George smirked triumphantly, confident they were getting justice for the evil prank. Emily gave Alice a sympathetic look and told her to meet her out by the lake after. Alice got up and followed Triggs who stopped to pick up Jason too, and led them out of the Great Hall and up to the Headmaster’s office. He left them at the staircase up to the office so that the twins were forced to nervously ascend the steps.

Alice at first refused to knock on the door and tried to keep Jason from doing so as well but he managed to wrestle his hand free to lift and let fall the knocker. A soft voice called them in as the door creaked open slightly. Alice hung her head as she followed Jason into the office.

Dumbledore was standing from his seat behind his desk, gazing at them kindly. Alice gulped but straightened herself up. She suddenly tossed an accusing finger at Jason.

“If this is about the letter, it was all his idea!” she exclaimed, throwing her brother under the bus. Jason glared at her but Dumbledore just smiled, his blue eyes twinkling with amusement.

“You are not here for punishment,” Dumbledore assured the twins before grinning slightly and adding, “unless there’s something you’d like to confess to?”

Alice and Jason looked at each other, pursing their lips, before returning to look at Dumbledore with identical impassive faces and shrugging.

“No,” they answered in unison. Dumbledore grinned and made his way over to the black cabinet that held the Pensieve. Opening the cabinet, Alice’s eyes went wide with excitement.

“Are you showing us another memory?” she asked.

“I had a few in mind, yes,” Dumbledore smiled over at her in answer. Alice grinned and raced over to the cabinet alongside the headmaster, her brother not far behind.

Alice was practically bouncing with excitement, Jason was a bit more contained but his eyes gleamed with curiosity. The twins watched the headmaster eagerly as Dumbledore’s hand hovered in front of a row of vials on the shelf. Finally deciding upon a memory, Dumbledore’s hand plucked up a vial of silver mist. Uncorking the vial, Dumbledore poured the contents out into the stone basin where the mists settled. Dipping the tip of his wand into the slow-moving silvery light, Dumbledore stirred the mist that began to swirl rapidly and turn transparent. Dumbledore looked down at the gaping twins and smiled kindly, though his eyes seemed shadowed—but then, these weren’t happy memories, otherwise her mom would have gotten them back. Alice and Jason held their hands out over the swirling mists that now looked like glass and with a slight nod at each other they, along with Dumbledore, lowered their hands into the mists.

Alice swore she would never get used to the lurch into icy-cold blackness. Before she could even react to the unnerving sensation, she was already inside the memory, in the corridor on the Hogwarts Express. A group of kids were talking and laughing in a nearby compartment while the countryside raced past the windows. Alice glanced around to find Jason and Dumbledore on either side of her, but she didn’t care so much about them as finding her mom. Looking down the corridor, Alice found someone, but it certainly wasn’t her mom—it was a tall, thin boy with light brown shaggy hair and gleaming eyes.

“Triggs?” Alice gasped in surprise at the young—maybe sixth year—version of her professor and friend.

The young Triggs did not look pleased and glared through Alice. He pulled his wand from his pocket and cast a blast of red straight at her. Alice ducked instinctively, remembering belatedly that she wasn’t really there as the spell hurtled through her. Turning to watch the progress of the spell, Alice’s eyes popped as her fourth-year mom repelled the spell away from her. 

Glaring fiercely at the boy on the other end of the corridor, Nax threw her own spell at Triggs. Triggs waved it aside with his wand and the spell crashed into the light behind him, shattering it. Screams pealed out from a corridor behind Triggs. Triggs looked nervously behind him as kids shuffled towards their compartment doors to see the commotion. Nax took her opportunity and threw a whip of flame at Triggs which caught his robes. By this time some other students had poked their heads out and one went racing off down the corridor behind the duel.

Triggs beat out the flames on his robes just in time to deflect another of Nax’s spells which rebounded and hit a kid standing in his compartment door so that his face erupted in boils. Triggs and Nax threw spells at each other simultaneously so that Triggs got hit with a Jelly Legs Jinx while Nax got hit with a Bat Bogey Hex. By the time the escaping student returned with a prefect they found Triggs struggling to his feet while Nax was under attack from bat bogeys. After the prefect cast the counter spells to those afflicting the students, he glared at the two of them.

“Alvar! Willamena! Follow me,” he commanded sternly.

Triggs and Nax glared at each other fiercely before falling into step behind the prefect, making sure to keep considerable distance between them. Alice, Jason, and Dumbledore followed after them, Alice gaping at the younger versions of her mother and favorite teacher who seemed to hate each other! I mean, this was her mom and Triggs—the guy that told her all about her mom and let her get away with a pranking reign of terror with minimal consequences—he was dating Aunt K for crying out loud!

The prefect led Nax and Triggs, and subsequently the twins and Dumbledore, into an empty compartment and closed the door behind them (and right through Jason). The prefect told the students to sit and they grudgingly did so, on opposite sides of the compartment and opposite ends of the seats, turning so that they didn’t have to look at each other. The prefect shook his head.

“The year hasn’t even technically started and you two are already at it,” he remarked, pursing his lips. “Your houses are going to start off in the negatives,” he continued. At this, Triggs’ and Nax’s eyes widened in shock and they looked down in shame. Nax raised her head and glared over at Triggs.

“This isn’t even fair, he started it!” she accused.

“I guess we’re ignoring you unhinging the luggage rack above my seat,” Triggs spat.

“I did no such thing, it’s not my fault if the train’s maintenance is a bit behind,” Nax replied smirking in a way that told Alice that she had done exactly that. Triggs’ jaw clenched and a vein in his neck throbbed as he glared over at Nax, but the prefect cut him off before he could respond and continue the argument.

“Stuff it! Both of you! Unless you want Gryffindor and Ravenclaw to start off at negative fifty points, which is perfectly fine with me,” the prefect snapped with a slight smirk due to the yellow and black striped tie he was sporting. “Now, if you want the headmaster to hear of this then go on with how you’re acting, but if you want to get off without detention or suspension then here’s what you’re going to do: sit in here for the rest of the trip and don’t get into any more fights…” Triggs and Nax both tried to protest, their faces red and brows drawn low, but the prefect waved his wand and though the two tried to speak no sound came out. “That’ll wear off in about ten minutes, after that you’re on your own as to how to get along,” the prefect grinned and walked straight through Alice and exited the compartment, shutting the door behind him.

Triggs and Nax glared daggers at each other, Alice had never looked at someone with such hatred as these two were casting at each other. Eventually Triggs turned away from Nax and stared out the window, his jaw clenched tightly so that Alice wouldn’t have been surprised if he broke his teeth from the pressure. Nax soon did the same, crossing her arms over her chest and picking at the wallpaper.

The compartment and two students painfully ignoring each other in it began to dissolve, as if everything were made of gas that was fading and swirling away, leaving only darkness. It wasn’t long though before a new scene appeared: a street in Diagon Alley. Alice could see the secondhand book store further down the street, along with other people walking around shopping. On this end of the street though, there weren’t any people aside from Nax ducked behind a wall and peering down an alley. Moving closer, Alice looked down the alley where Nax was watching something and froze. 

A figure in a black robe and hood pointed his wand down at a man convulsing on the floor as another person in black robes and wearing a creepy skull mask kept glancing up and down the alley, ready to hex anyone who happened to see them. The first figure raised its wand from the convulsing man and a gruff voice that sounded somehow hollow emanated from him, telling Alice that it was a man even if she couldn’t distinguish what he was saying. The masked figure said something to the man, in a higher pitched, feminine voice, but was cut off by a call from behind Alice.

The two cloaked and masked figures turned and stared straight at Alice. She froze, her eyes wide and heart racing as the grotesque masks turned on her with dead eyes, their wands raised. Alice glanced around frantically for whoever had drawn attention to her and her eyes landed on Triggs who was glaring at Nax as he stomped down the steadily darkening street.

“What the bloody hell are you doing, Ackers?” he tossed at Nax accusatorily. He couldn’t read Nax’s warning and frustrated glare, expecting it was just her reaction to seeing a boy she disliked more than anyone, not understanding that he had just revealed her and himself to two Death Eaters.

“Confringo!” the masked woman cried, sending a red blast hurtling towards the two teenagers.

Nax leapt and tackled Triggs out of the way as the wall she had previously been hiding behind blasted apart. The alleyway was soon filled with dust which covered the teenagers and turned the Death Eaters’ black robes to a dark gray. Triggs coughed the dust from his lungs as Nax hauled him to his feet. He slumped against the wall as Nax cast a Muffliato spell on them to hide his hacking from the Death Eaters.

“Bloody hell, Alvar! What is wrong with you?” Nax demanded furiously, shoving him in the chest.

“What’s wrong with me? What the hell were you doing spying on Death Eaters!” Alvar rasped.

“I was on the other end of the street and was passing the alley and didn’t want them to see me. And… well… I thought I could maybe… take ‘em by surprise and have ‘em all wrapped up for the Aurors when I called them afterwards,” Nax replied, her face turning redder with every word. Triggs glared at her in stupendous shock. “Shut up!” she snapped in response and flicked her wand up in the air, sending up a burst of red sparks into the air. “Hopefully someone will see that.”

“A little late, dear,” a hollow voice echoed behind them.

Nax and Triggs instinctively ducked as a deep cut was gouged out of the brick wall they had just been standing in front of. Nax swiped the man’s feet out from under him with her leg, sending him toppling to the ground with a grunt. Triggs stared at her in awe as she rolled her eyes and dragged him after her towards the other end of Diagon Alley, where there were more people.

A haunting laugh echoed around them. A barrel of brooms sitting outside Quality Quidditch Supplies burst apart as the teenagers passed. Nax and Triggs spun around to see the female Death Eater stalking down the cobbled street after them. Her hood had fallen back and she had straight, sleek brown hair that cascaded around her shoulders from behind the silver skull mask. The Death Eater flicked her wand imperiously at the teenagers but Triggs skillfully knocked it aside with a quick repelling charm. At the same time Nax was swinging her wand and shouting “Rictusempra!” The woman doubled over in laughter and Nax and Triggs quickly turned away.

“A tickling charm! Really?” Triggs exclaimed in exasperation.

“Hey! It worked didn’t it!” Nax shouted back at him.

Suddenly, the teens were stopped as a flurry of black robes appeared right in front of them. They didn’t have time to react before the Death Eater was pointing his wand at Triggs.

“Avada Ked—” he roared, but just as a green light began forming at the tip of his wand, Nax hurled herself at the Death Eater and knocked his wand up, sending the burst of green hurtling away. The skull mask on the man slipped from the impact with the girl, and was knocked away, skittering across the cobblestone streets.

Triggs didn’t pay much attention to the mask-less Death Eater and grabbed Nax’s hand and Disapparated. Alice and Jason has only a split second to gape at the revealed face before they followed the memory and thus Disapparated with Nax to appear outside a park. Nax and Triggs, covered in a thin layer of dust and debris and bleeding from the numerous cuts littering their faces and arms, stared at each other. They didn’t speak for a while, just breathing heavily and staring at each other with a new respect and grudging appreciation.

The two teenagers disappeared into smoke, as did the park as Alice felt the unsettling spinning sensation. She gasped as she was once more in Dumbledore’s office standing before the Pensieve. Her mouth agape, Alice turned to Jason, who mirrored her expression. The two then gave the same incredulous look to the headmaster standing next to them.

“I’ve seen him before!” the twins exclaimed simultaneously.

“He was on the cover of the Daily Prophet a while ago!” Jason said.

“Well, of course, he didn’t look like that, he’s older now—but that was definitely the same guy!” Alice agreed.

“Yes, some of the Death Eaters were not justly punished for their crimes. Avery was sent to Azkaban, but got out on ‘good behavior’ which is the Ministry’s term for giving up the names of some of his companions. Now he’s a businessman, his son followed in his footsteps but avoided Azkaban by claiming he was under the Imperius Curse, ha!” Dumbledore laughed grimly. Clearly he didn’t believe it and Alice and Jason raised an eyebrow at each other as the headmaster muttered darkly to himself, his brows drawn. “I apologize, I didn’t mean to lose my temper. These are just the suspicions of an old man,” Dumbledore smiled ruefully.

“Mom saved Triggs,” Alice commented to herself, impressed.

“Yes, that event changed their relationship. It was after that trial that the two set aside their differences and were able to become friends,” Dumbledore smiled at the twins.

“It only took mom saving his ass from Death Eaters to stop them from setting each other on fire,” Alice laughed.

“Yes, it is rather absurd. Filch was rather grateful for not having to cleaning up after their duels all the time,” Dumbledore grinned. “Now, I have kept you long enough. I’m sure you’d both like to get ready for the big game!”

Alice’s face dropped and Dumbledore looked curiously from her to her brother who shrugged.

“She’s in a competition with the Weasley twins and it’s over after the game. Currently she’s up by a few points but—“

“They’re gonna have something planned before the game as payback for this morning,” Alice grumbled.

“I would ask what this… competition… is, but I have a feeling I don’t want to know,” Dumbledore grinned. Alice and Jason nodded at the headmaster before bidding him goodbye and leaving his office.

Once they stepped down from the spiral staircase, Alice stopped dead and peered cautiously around the alcove, up and down the corridor. It appeared empty but the best pranks were hidden. Jason rolled his eyes and pushed her out of the alcove and out into the corridor. She struggled a bit, but when the statue guarding the headmaster’s office didn’t explode into birds that attacked her she figured she was safe.

The twins headed down to the grounds to meet Emily, Jason tagging along since Cho was currently freaking out about Ravenclaw’s fate in the Quidditch Tournament. It wasn’t until they got to the corridor outside the Great Hall that Alice got nervous as Fred, George, and Lee Jordan were hanging out on the steps playing Exploding Snap. Alice quickly stepped behind Jason, forcing him to walk ahead of her, serving as her human shield from any traps the twins had set up.

“There’s nothing in the hall,” George called out nonchalantly, not looking up from his game. Alice straightened and glared over at the boys as Lee chuckled. She grimaced and stepped beyond Jason, walking determinedly out the doors opened up onto the grounds. As soon as she stepped outside, a suit of armor leapt out at her, issuing a scream from the girl as she jumped back, placing her in position for a huge balloon that dropped down and burst over her head, releasing a cloud of Belching Powder. Peeves laughed gleefully from the suit of armor.

“Peeves you *belch* traitor!” Alice roared up at the chuckling poltergeist.

“Sorry, my dear, but the gingers offered a hefty sum for my cooperation!” Peeves grinned before zooming away through the ceiling.

The Weasley twins and Lee Jordan were laughing hysterically, so much so that Alice briefly feared they would fall down the stairs—but then, she thought, it served them right. A familiar chuckle made her spin back to Jason who had the audacity to be laughing at her!

“So you’re *belch* on their side *belch* too *belch*!” she tried to sound intimidating but the burping really wasn’t helping matters. Jason tried to stifle his chuckles but at a particularly loud burp from his sister that echoed through the hall he gave up all pretense and burst out laughing.

“Lee! The score please!” Fred said between laughs.

“Twenty points,” Lee answered between hiccups, he was laughing so hard.

Fred and George stood up triumphantly and high-fived as Alice shouted in frustration—which came out as a burp, making her face burn scarlet, not from embarrassment but anger.

“That is not *belch* worth twenty *belch* points!” she contested furiously.

“Factoring in that you believed them when they said there wasn’t a trap here-“

“And there wasn’t a trap in the _hall_! We never said there wasn’t one outside,” George pointed out.

“And then that they got Peeves to turn on you, and the Belching Powder! I’m sorry, it’s too good! I’m a sucker for the classics!” Lee wheezed.

* * *

“Hey *belch* Em,” Alice grumbled as she sat down in the grass next to Emily. Emily raised an eyebrow and smiled as Alice let out another loud burp.

“Hi! Eat too fast?” she teased. Alice glared at her and Emily quickly dropped her amused smile.

“You get two *belch* guesses, and *belch* they’re both *belch* ginger,” Alice stated angrily amidst burps. “They turned *belch* Peeves *belch* against me! *belch* Peeves!” Alice exclaimed in exasperation.

“Aw, I’m sorry, Alice. So did this pull them close?” Emily asked sympathetically. She didn’t understand the prank war but she knew that Alice took it very seriously.

“They’re *belch* winning!” Alice shouted. Emily’s brows shot up to her forehead and her mouth gaped open slightly in shock.

“Well, you’ve got to get them back!” Emily urged.

“I know, I know—I just need *belch* a new…” Alice paused and glanced over at Emily in surprise. “You’re encouraging *belch* this?”

“Well, yeah! I know you want to win!” Emily explained. “Plus, I’m the one who’d have to deal with you if you lost!” she giggled.

“Alright, well *belch* got any ideas?” Alice asked.

* * *

The Gryffindor locker room was silent as the game didn’t start for another hour and a half. The door squeaked open and Alice muttered angry curses. She glanced around surreptitiously at the empty room, peering into the shadowy corners just in case someone was hiding. Of course, the only people that would be hiding would also not be allowed there so Alice figured she could count on silence either way. The room was empty and Alice stepped in, carefully closing the door behind her.

She and Emily had foregone working on their Astronomy project and instead set to developing a master plan. It was risky, but Alice needed a big win and she needed to wait as long as possible so the twins couldn’t come back with another prank to win. Alice’s supplies were running low, but after practically tearing apart their dorm, they had found it: itching powder.

“Numbers eleven and seven,” Alice muttered to herself as she checked the scarlet jerseys hanging in the open lockers. The two jerseys were right next to each other; figures. Alice grabbed the jerseys from the hooks and flipped them inside out. Pulling the bottle of itching powder out of her bag, Alice made sure to hold the jerseys out at arms-length before squeezing the bottle. A big cloud of powder puffed out from the bottle and settled onto the jerseys. Alice turned the jerseys back right-side in, careful to avoid touching any spots the itching powder was on. She had made that mistake in years past and her hands had been useless for the rest of the day.

Alice replaced the jerseys and hastily exited the locker room. She didn’t return to the Great Hall for lunch though, no, not yet. She had given her own team a handicap, and Alice was not going to be the one responsible for Gryffindor losing the Quidditch Tournament and inevitably the House Cup. No, she had to make sure Gryffindor had the upper hand. Luckily her war with the Slytherins didn’t restrict her from using magical pranks.

Alice double checked that her jar of Bulbadox Powder was safe in her bag before creeping off towards the Slytherin locker room. She was so absorbed, looking through her bag, that she didn’t pay attention to where she was going. She found the bottle and grabbed the stem to check that it was still closed properly. It wasn’t until she stepped on uneven footing and a whining yelp demanded her attention. Alice jumped back, the bottle in hand and her eyes bulging as she saw Mrs. Norris under foot, yowling and glaring at her.

“Oh sh—”

“Mrs. Norris! What did these blasted kids—” Filch stopped dead upon rounding the corner and spotting Alice standing outside the Slytherin locker room with a potion bottle in hand. “What’s this?” Filch demanded, snatching the bottle from Alice’s hand. As he inspected the label, Alice tried to make a run for it but Filch lunged for her and clamped a hand around her wrist. “No you don’t! Not this time!” he croaked triumphantly as he sneered at her.

Filch dragged Alice off from the Quidditch Pitch and back up to the castle. Alice struggled at first, but she soon found that as frail as Filch appeared he had a grip of iron! She had long ago resigned herself to getting in trouble—of course, she avoided it whenever possible and was usually successful, but mistakes happen—but what ate away at her was that she had single-handedly served the Quidditch match to Slytherin on a silver platter.

“I should’ve done the snakes first,” she berated herself under her breath.

“What was that?” Filch cawed.

“Nothing,” Alice grumbled.

They stopped at the door to Filch’s office where Filch gave Alice a stern glare and ordered Mrs. Norris to watch her as he fumbled for his keys. He managed to unlock the door before Alice had figured out her best escape route and corralled her inside.

“I see you haven’t gotten around to spring cleaning yet,” Alice commented as she picked her way between boxes and filing cabinets and stacks of files.

“Sit down!” Filch barked. 

Before he slammed the door shut, Alice caught a glimpse out through a window in the hall. Students in scarlet and emerald streamed onto the grounds towards the Quidditch pitch. Not only was she in trouble and had handicapped her own team, but she would miss the game too! 

Filch muttered under his breath, undoubtedly uttering things he wanted to say to Alice but which would get him sacked if he did so directly. Alice smirked and flopped onto a stack of boxes that was serving as seating. Filch shuffled over on the other side of the desk and lowered himself achingly into his seat. He peered at her triumphantly, eyes gleaming.

“Dueling students,” Filch accused.

“I haven’t dueled anyone!” Alice denied.

“Causing physical and emotional damage,” Filch growled. Alice conceded that one with a shrug. “Sabotaging another House’s Quidditch team! These are serious crimes, Miss Connen!” Filch sneered gleefully. He really seemed to be enjoying this too much.

“I think you mean infractions,” Alice pointed out, but Filch ignored her as he shuffled through papers on his desk.

“Where are those forms?” he grumbled, creaking as he got up from his seat to shuffle through stacks of paper on the floor. His muttered cursing seemed to grow the longer he searched. Alice pursed her lips and whiled away the time waiting by counting the spider webs in the room. She got to seven before Filch emerged, huffing, his scraggly hair disheveled, but his eyes glittering in excitement. 

“Here we are!” he exclaimed and began furiously muttering as he filled out the form. Alice sighed and resigned herself to being stuck in here for hours. 

Filch initially wanted to revert to past forms of punishment, and even went so far as to dig out a pile of chains from a cluttered corner, but luckily for Alice, footsteps outside revealed that perhaps not all of the professors were at the game. This subdued Filch a bit, causing him to angrily mutter under his breath even more as he decreed Alice’s punishment would be sorting through his files. Alice groaned and rolled her eyes but set to working—only half-heartedly though, as she was hoping that after the game ended someone would send a professor looking for her and they would rescue her from this cruel and unusual punishment.

* * *

Alice cursed as she got another paper cut from a stack of papers, but Filch refused to let her use magic to clean up. She muttered some choice words about Filch as she sucked on her bleeding finger. If the cuts littering her fingers were any indication, Alice had gotten a lot sorted out in Filch’s office. She had actually managed to sort through the different kinds of forms and organize them in filing cabinets. But of course, she couldn’t make Filch’s punishing students that much easier, so she labeled everything wrong. She couldn’t determine how long she had been in Filch’s office. Alice felt sure that the game had ended by now, but yet where was her rescuer?

She managed to clear the space around Filch’s desk so that people could actually walk in unimpeded. This of course was for herself and her friends, so that there would be a clear escape route should any of them find themselves in similar situations in the future. Filch was writing something at his desk when Mrs. Norris leapt atop it. In the process she knocked a pile of papers off and onto the floor. They flopped down at Alice’s feet and she held up a hand to Filch’s irritated groan.

“I got ‘em,” she said as she leaned down and picked up the scattered papers. Most were random forms for various rule-breaking—she sighed as she’d have to file these away now too—but a purple brochure caught her attention. It appeared to be a flyer, with big, fancy lettering on the cover reading “Kwikspell.” Alice hid the brochure amidst the other papers and hastily went over to the filing cabinets.

Alice opened up a drawer and rested the brochure up atop the other files so she could read it as she filed the other forms. She glanced through the stories of witches and wizards claiming the Kwikspell course unlocked their incredibly low magical abilities. Alice chuckled at the ridiculous claims the course made, much like those espoused by scam products and companies in the Muggle world. Alice figured if wizards made commercials, this would definitely be an “As Seen on TV” kind of service. She could hear the narrator declaring a “Special, Limited time offer! If you call in now get two months of the course for the price of one!”

Filch glanced up at Alice’s chuckles. Hoping to catch her goofing off and have an excuse to extend her punishment, Filch got to his feet and shuffled over to her. Alice heard his shuffling footsteps but didn’t have time to hide the brochure before Filch appeared over her shoulder. His face began to get splotchy as his jaw set and he glared at her, all the while his jowls quivered.

“Where did you get that?” he rasped, a slight tremor in his voice.

“It was on the floor,” Alice responded, staring at Filch.

“It just came in the mail. I don’t know what it’s for, it’s just…” Filch foundered for an excuse.

“Junk mail?” Alice offered, grinning.

“Yes! Wait, what?” Filch agreed hastily before realizing he had no idea what that was. He began spluttering, trying to cover the brochure up. Alice’s grin just widened the longer he rambled on. She knew exactly what this meant: Filch wasn’t magical! What was it Emily had called it? When someone from a magical family didn’t have magic. A squid? No, that was a sea creature. But it was like that… squid… squiddy… squib! Filch was a Squib!

“But, so you understand… I didn’t send for it or… I don’t need any… er…” Filch scrambled for an excuse but he could tell from Alice’s face that she knew exactly what was going on.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, sir,” Alice said innocently as she closed the drawer, the brochure falling inside to be shut out of sight. Filch glared at her, obviously not believing her, but recognizing that she now had considerable power over him.

“That’s right! You didn’t read anything!” Filch adjusted hesitantly, but sternly.

“No sir,” Alice agreed, still grinning. “Now, can I go sir?” The message was clear: “Let me go or the entire school will find out about this.” Filch gave her one more vicious glare before giving in.

“Get out!” he spat.

Alice walked out of his office but as soon as she was out of earshot she rocketed through the hallways and up into the Gryffindor common room. The painting burst open and Alice leapt through.

"Guys! Filch is a Squib!" 

Everyone stared at her in astonishment. Alice noticed the somber mood she had crashed in on and realized that Gryffindor had lost—pretty bad too from some of the faces she saw. But her intrusion on their loss wasn’t why they were staring in shock. She had been trying for months and she had finally actually leapt through the portrait hole. 

"What?" She asked, confused as to why they were all staring at her. They all pointed to the portrait hole. Alice turned and looked at the portrait hole, then looked down at her feet. Her eyes suddenly grew to the size of saucers and her mouth gaped open wide. "I DID IT! I LEAPT THROUGH THE PORTRAIT HOLE! I ACTUALLY DID IT! AND YOU ALL SAID IT COULDN'T BE DONE! WELL I SHOWED YOU! HA!" She shouted, jumping up and down in excitement and triumph.

Emily hastened over to her friend who was jumping and spinning. People were beginning to glare at her. This was not a time for celebration—even if she had just leapt through the portrait hole which they all had thought impossible—their team had just been crushed by Slytherin, losing the Quidditch Tournament as well as all hope of winning the House Cup. Emily grabbed hold of Alice’s shoulders and steered the still bouncing girl away into a corner.

“I DID IT! YOU ALL THOUGHT I WAS CRAZY!” Alice exclaimed.

“Hush!” Emily shushed Alice sternly, silencing her. Alice stared at Emily bemusedly.

“What’s the matter, I mean, I’m guessing we lost, but we all knew it was a long shot anyway,” Alice questioned.

“We didn’t just lose, we were humiliated! And that was mostly due to us,” Emily whispered ashamedly to her friend.

“What?” Alice demanded before realization dawned on her. She couldn’t help but smile, realizing that her prank had worked. “Oh yeah! So, how many points did I get? Did I win?”

“No, Alice, it didn’t work!” Emily replied hastily. “You did the wrong jerseys!” she said barely above a breath. Alice’s face went slack.

“What? No! Numbers eleven and seven! I did those!” Alice retorted.

“The twins aren’t eleven and seven!” Emily replied, struggling to keep her voice low.

“But, that’s what we agreed they were!” Alice fumbled.

“I said I thought one of them had a seven in their number, and the other might be eleven,” Emily replied defensively. “Turns out, they’re seventeen and nine.”

“Then who’s seven and eleven?” Alice asked nervously.

“Llewyn and Wood,” Emily grimaced. Alice’s jaw dropped, her eyes wide as she turned to look for the two boys.

Llewyn was alone in a corner, his eyes red, still scratching at his neck. Oliver Wood was nowhere to be seen. Emily said no one had seen him come out from the showers.

“Does anyone know it was me?” Alice asked conspiratorially.

“No,” Emily replied. Alice sighed in relief.

“Well, a few good things came out of today,” Fred commented as the twins came over to Alice and Emily. They didn’t have the usual spring in their step but they grinned nevertheless.

“Can’t wait for your declaration of inferiority at the Feast, Connen,” George winked.

Alice glared at the twins, but to be honest, considering the failed prank, this was probably the best result she could hope for. It was certainly better her housemates see her as an inferior pranker to the Weasley twins than to see her as the traitor that sabotaged her own team.

Plus, the day hadn’t been all bad. She found out Filch was a Squib, giving her an upper hand in all their future meetings. And most importantly: she had leapt through the portrait hole.


	19. Ah, the Bitter Taste of Defeat and Goodbyes

The magicked chalk dropped back onto the shelf once finished with copying the instructions McGonagall had just given the class. They were practicing for the end of year exam, or as Alice liked to call it: doing busy work. 

“Now, are there any questions?” McGonagall asked the class.

Students began opening up their books or arranging the items on their desk to get started. Since the Quidditch game, Gryffindor house had been quite despondent as they had lost all hope of winning the house cup. Such was the state of the class that no one seemed likely to participate beyond a half-hearted completion of the tasks at hand. Alice glanced around at her glum classmates before setting her jaw. They would not go out like this. Last place in the house cup? Over her dead body!

Alice’s hand shot up. Emily glanced at her questioningly—Alice had been doing great in transfiguration since she had started studying it with her brother. She could do all of the practice spells easily, so why was she raising her hand? 

“Yes, Miss Connen?” McGonagall called on her, a hint of hopefulness smoothing the terse lines of her face.

“How many points would be warranted from a student doing something which has never before been accomplished?” Alice asked in all seriousness. Her classmates looked up hopefully.

Emily dropped her head into her hands. She could not be serious!

McGonagall seemed to immediately grow suspicious. Anything Alice Connen had been the first to do probably hadn’t been done yet for a reason. The girl wasn’t exactly a model student.

“Depends on the deed,” McGongall replied grimly, quirking an eyebrow.

“I jumped through the portrait hole entrance to the Gryffindor Common Room. My feet never touched down in the tunnel,” Alice declared proudly, like she had just created a new magical spell.

“That’s impossible,” McGonagall replied, slightly amused.

“That’s what they said!” Alice exclaimed, sweeping her arm out to encompass the class. “But it’s not, because I did it,” Alice stated. The other students nodded their heads vigorously in confirmation.

“It’s true. She did it, I saw,” Cole Parks agreed. Alice cast the boy a magnanimous smile.

“Personally, I think it should merit fifty points seeing as how I managed to do the impossible by leaping through the portrait hole, and add to that the fact that I'm short so that should be another ten points!" Alice declared to the consensus of the class.

“Yeah, that tunnel’s gotta be at least five feet long! She jumped farther than she is tall,” Thomas Ward exclaimed.

“Your leaping abilities are quite impressive but that is not the sort of action that merits reward in the points system,” McGonagall answered as the class gradually began to get out of control. Only, her answer didn’t calm them down. Quite the opposite in fact. The class rose up as everyone began putting in their say as to why this ridiculous achievement should warrant points. McGonagall understood their desire to help their house, she herself was quite upset that they were in last place, especially after the smack she talked to the other heads of house, but this wasn’t the way to do that.

“But it’s an achievement! No one else has ever done it before!” Katie Bell cried out.

“Yeah, it’s essentially like breaking a record! How is that not worth points?” Liz Hinkel pointed out.

“Alice jumped through the portrait hole! That’s never been done in the history of Hogwarts!” McLaggen shouted. Alice didn’t particularly want his support as she didn’t like the kid, but she figured that every bit helped so she withheld from giving him a mean glare.

“We should get points for that!” someone in the back called out to which the class immediately agreed with.

“We should all get points!” Alice called out over the noise. “One hundred for me because I did it, fifty for each of those who witnessed it! This is a historical event! Never done before! Did any of the other houses commit a historical act? No! We should automatically win for this!” So maybe she had overstretched a bit with that last part, but hey, go big or go home.

“We should tell Dumbledore,” Leanne commented to Katie, but the others took it up.

“Yeah! The Headmaster would agree with us!”

“No! You will not bother the Headmaster with such nonsense,” McGonagall cut through the chaos with a stern glare.

“This is not nonsense!” Alice wouldn’t give up just yet. “It’s a historical event! Never before done! I at least deserve a plaque! Or a shiny gold medal, or something of the sort!” she retorted.

“Enough!” McGonagall snapped and from her tone, everyone knew it was over. “I understand you all want to help your house, but this is a fool’s quest! Now if you all really want to get points back you should be diligent in your work and refrain from any more distractions! You will use the remaining time to complete your tasks and you will do so in silence!”

There were a few grumbles, but everyone settled down and began their work. Alice stuck her elbows on the desk and dropped her chin to her knuckles with a dark sigh. Emily peered over at her.

“I told you she wouldn’t go for it,” Emily whispered gently, though it didn’t take the sting from the unhelpful ‘told you so’ she was giving. Alice rolled her eyes. Emily sighed. “Try Flitwick in Charms. He’s more likely to give out points anyway and plus he likes you,” she offered. Alice turned to her with a slight smile. Now that was actually helpful.

Her dour mood slightly lessened by Emily’s advice, Alice set to working on the practice questions and spells McGonagall had given the class. Emily suggested they split up the questions from their textbook and share their answers so that they each only had to do half of the work. Alice remarked on how Emily was the budding genius of their generation which made her friend blush scarlet and embarrassedly deny it. The girls thus finished their bookwork well before the rest of the class and moved on to the practice spells. Thomas repeatedly glared over at the distracting girls practicing their incantations loudly in front of him, but didn’t say anything, at least not above his breath.

Despite her apparent preparedness in Transfiguration, Alice wasn’t looking forward to exams. She had worked hard in Transfiguration, racking up a lot of stressful hours practicing in the library with her brother, and she was a natural at Charms, but everything else… well, she should have started studying sooner than the week before exams. She certainly wasn’t excited for the end of year feast where she would have to declare Fred and George the ultimate pranksters either. She wasn’t entirely sure she could take the blow to her ego, especially when Gryffindor had also lost the House Cup. 

She was glad about one thing though: her flying exam which would ultimately end flying lessons forever. She would never have to fly again! Alice was positively giddy as she and Emily headed down to the lawns for the last time. Emily glanced at her bemusedly, seriously wondering if her friend had lost it.

“Are you alright?” Emily asked cautiously. Alice just grinned.

“I’m great!” she exclaimed. Emily raised her brow in surprise. Yep, that clinched it, her friend had gone insane. Alice noticed her friend’s expression and laughed. “It’s our last ever Flying Lesson! After today I will never have to get on another broom again!” she declared.

“Well, you have to pass first,” Emily pointed out but Alice waved her off.

“Madam Hooch doesn’t fail anyone. Flying lessons is like driving lessons, you don’t fail school because you fail a driver’s test, you just don’t get a license,” Alice explained. She thought it was a pretty good analogy but Emily didn’t seem to appreciate it.

 “All right, but it is a pretty essential part of living in the Wizarding world,” Emily said.

“No, it’s not,” Alice scoffed.

 “It is if you want to travel somewhere before you learn how to Apparate,” Emily pointed out.

“Floo powder. But you know, Muggles have actually figured out how to travel without physical exertion with these fabulous machines called cars!” Alice explained cheerily with only a hint of condescension.

“Alright, but in the wizarding world I doubt you’ll go your entire life without ever getting on another broom,” Emily grinned.

“I will if I have anything to say about it,” Alice replied.

Madam Hooch had set up a sort of obstacle course for the students. There were rings floating at different heights above the ground and all the students had to do was navigate through each of them on their brooms and they would pass.

“Go at your own pace please! I don’t want any injuries because you wanted to race your friends and so flew carelessly into a ring or a tree. I’ve already sent two Slytherins to the hospital wing and I don’t want anyone else joining them!” Madam Hooch declared in her commanding voice.

She essentially gave the students free reign on the grounds as she called them over one-by-one for their exam. The only rules were not to interfere with students navigating the course and not to fly above the tree tops. Of course, with rambunctious Gryffindor boys eager to prove themselves fearless, Alice could’ve told Madam Hooch what would happen.

“Ward! Parks! I said no flying above the tree tops!” Hooch called out sternly turning away from the student currently running the exam course. Cole lowered shamefacedly while Thomas just laughed and nosedived directly into a group of Ravenclaws, making them scatter.

“Mr. Ward!” Hooch yelled. “Honestly, that boy! I have half a mind to fail him!” she muttered, but returned her attention to the Ravenclaw flying through the rings.

“Hey, Alice! Look!” Jason hollered as he came speeding towards her. Alice glared at Jason as he headed straight for her without apparent thoughts of stopping, but just before he ran straight into her, Jason pulled up and did a loop in the air. He came back to her level grinning cheekily. “Cho taught me that!”

“Mhm, I’ll bet she did,” Alice said with a suggestive wiggle of her eyebrows. Jason rolled his eyes and, for that, purposely bumped into her broom. Alice frantically clutched onto her broom handle and shot her twin a dark glare that simply made him laugh.

“Jason!” Cho called from across the grounds and, with a grin to his sister, Jason was off. Alice shook her head but just then Madam Hooch called her name. Alice was making her way over towards the obstacle course when two voices shouted her name in unison.

Two familiar voices. Two familiar voices that Alice didn’t want anywhere near her.

Thomas and Cole were rocketing straight for her and although Jason had just threatened the same thing, she was a lot more confident in his skills and just generally more trusting of him than she was of these two. Alice’s eyes widened and before she could give them a chance she shot off to the right and out of the way.

“Not funny you guys!” Alice shouted at them, shaking slightly upon noticing she had gone up a few feet, now level with the first ring in the course.

The boys simply laughed and gave chase. Now, Alice could’ve just flown back down to the ground. Or she could have just let Madam Hooch handle them, seeing as how they were breaking the rules by interfering with an exam. Or she could have yelled at them until they were emotionally unstable puddles. Or she could have—alright, there were a lot of things Alice could have done to avoid being chased all over the grounds by Thomas Ward and Cole Parks, but she didn’t do any of them and thus got chased all over the grounds by Thomas Ward and Cole Parks. 

Alice zoomed straight through the first ring and down towards the second one as the boys followed after her. She looked back to see where they were before noticing the terrible lurch the broom did when she did that and jerked back to see where she was going.

Alice wasn’t paying any attention to what she was doing, just focusing on not allowing those annoying boys to catch her and probably knock her off accidentally because they weren’t exactly Captain Cautious and Safety Boy. Thus, she didn’t notice that she was rapidly outpacing the boys on her own broomstick, swerving through each and every ring, making turns that no one had ever seen before, and basically just exemplifying excellent flying skills. Everyone else noticed though, and they stared gaping as she sped through the course. 

Eventually, Thomas and Cole got tired of trying to keep up and flew back down to the ground. That gave Alice a break so she stopped, hovered a few feet off the ground and wiped the sweat from her brow. She floated back down to the ground where the boys were out of breath and staring at her in wonder while everyone else stood shocked. Alice blinked.

“What?” she asked of their gaping mouths and wide eyes.

Everyone immediately snapped shut their mouths and looked away. 

Madam Hooch was standing there dumbstruck, staring at Alice like she had never seen the girl. But before she could say anything about her performance—Alice had, after all, just finished the course perfectly and in record time (alright, so Madam Hooch told the students not to try to race each other but she always timed them anyway for her own information and to scope out talent for the Quidditch teams)—Emily rushed over to Alice.

“That was incredible! You were going so fast and I thought you were going to run into that tree branch after the ring but you went under it at the last second! I just—you were incredible!” Emily squealed and practically tackled Alice with a hug that squeezed the life from her.

“Whatever, Emily,” Alice scoffed as Madam Hooch shook off her shock and called for the next student. Emily wasn’t quite ready to let it go though, and continued raving about it to anyone who’d listen and some who wouldn’t—Alice had learned how to tune her out a long time ago—until the bell signaled the end of their very last Flying lesson and Alice’s freedom. 

* * *

Thomas got his revenge for Transfiguration and Flying lessons in Potions class. This was certainly not Alice’s best subject but not wholly due to her less than stellar relationship with the professor. She honestly just didn’t have the talent for potions; she was too impatient. She couldn’t even turn to her brother for help as he just told her to follow the instructions, which just made her mad. What did he think she was doing? Making it up as she went!

“What’s the matter Connen? Not done with the first potion yet?” Thomas smirked, noticing as she glared over at his loudly bubbling cauldron. Alice rolled her eyes and muttered some choice words for the boy under her breath as she lit the flame beneath hers and Emily’s cauldron. She tried to stir their potion but Emily quickly swatted her hand away as she added in the last ingredient. Alice smarted from Thomas’ snicker but her ego wasn’t bruised enough to interfere with Emily’s superior potion-making skills.

As if Snape’s class hadn’t put her in a bad enough mood, Alice was ambushed by the Weasley twins up in the common room afterwards.

“There’s the inferior prankster!” George announced upon her entrance. Alice cast the twins the darkest glare she could muster, which made Emily take a step back from her friend, but only made the twins laugh.

“Oi! Alice! We wrote down a bit for your speech at the end-of-year feast,” Fred informed haughtily as he held out a scroll to her. 

Alice shot venom at him and snatched the rolled up parchment from him. She flicked it open and her jaw dropped as the parchment unrolled all the way down to the floor. Fred, George, and Lee, who had just come down from the boy’s dormitory, all chuckled. Alice snapped her mouth shut, but Emily could just hear her grinding her teeth.

“Oh! And I do believe that by the rules established in our little competition you owe us some prank gear,” George grinned devilishly.

Alice’s eyes blazed with fury. Emily knew that look and acted accordingly.

Alice reached for her wand stabbed through her hairband but found nothing there. She immediately rounded on Emily whose eyes widened as she hastily stepped back, her hands behind her back.

“Emily, give me my wand!” Alice ordered sternly. Alice tried to reach behind Emily’s back to retrieve her wand but Emily held it out behind her, out of Alice’s reach. “Give it back so I can hex these little turds!”

“No, Alice! You’ll get in trouble!” Emily defended as she warded off Alice’s jumps and swipes for the wand held high above them. 

Alice ceased her fruitless attempts to retrieve her wand and sighed in frustration. Emily, eyes warily following Alice’s movements, slowly lowered the wand from over her head. Alice suddenly lunged for the wand brought within reach but Emily was faster and whipped her arm back behind her, accidentally stabbing a passing Gryffindor in the arm with Alice’s wand.

“Oops! Sorry!” Emily apologized. It was when her friend was distracted that Alice managed to snatch her wand from her friend’s grasp. She was satisfied to see the twins back up a step upon her regaining her wand. Alice smirked but stuck her wand back in her ponytail.

“I’m not a sore loser… most of the time,” Alice admitted to the twins and then continued on up to her dormitory.

She was weighed down considerably more on her way back down as her arms were filled with her best prank paraphernalia, including her itching powder (non-magical of course, though just as effective as Oliver Wood and Geoffrey Llewyn had had the misfortune to learn), forgery kit, and chocolate laxatives. It was the classics that Alice was most reluctant to part with though as Fred inspected the hand buzzer while George tested out the airhorn, by blowing it right in his brother’s ear of course. 

She at least had the satisfaction in watching as Lee Jordan sprayed himself right in the face with silly string, which the girls and the twins laughed at, leading Lee to spray them with silly string and forcing them to grab up their own cans in defense. They thus unleashed a battle in the common room. Sadly there were civilian casualties, but their cans all ran out before a prefect could arrive and exact justice.

With the prank war ended, and her flying lessons passed with flying colors, all Alice had to stress over were exams. That was _all_ , just exams. Just tests of her magical knowledge and abilities that would set the path for her entire future in the wizarding community. Just tests that would determine if she would succeed and find a place in this strange and wonderful world, or if she would flake out and be a failure in magic and have to go back to the mundane Muggle world which would be all the more ordinary in contrast to what she had experienced here… no big deal.

Jason quickly got tired of Alice’s insistence at spending practically every waking hour in the library. After all, it wasn’t like he really had that much to study, he was naturally perfect at everything! Unfortunately, Alice wasted an entire afternoon complaining about Jason’s innate perfection to Emily, time that otherwise could’ve been spent memorizing the names of the constellations for their Astronomy exam or drilling into her head all the properties of wolfsbane. It would’ve helped if she had any idea what the exams would be like! The professors said that there would be a written exam as well as practicals—except in History of Magic because how do you do a practical in that? Re-enact the First Giant Wars?

“Just relax!” Lee advised in the Common Room the night before Alice’s written Defense Against the Dark Arts exam.

Alice’s head snapped up from her textbook and she fixed Lee with a venomous glare. The bags under her eyes made the look quite a bit scarier than it usually was and Lee actually leaned back a bit.

“Relax? How am I supposed to relax when I don’t know whether a repelling or disarming spell would more effectively block against an attack?” Alice demanded, though her voice was kind of hoarse due to her exhaustion.

“Honestly, Alice, you’re stressing over nothing!” George replied.

“Yeah! First-year exams are a piece of cake,” Fred agreed.

“I like cake,” Alice muttered tiredly as she pressed the heels of her hands into her stinging eyes.

“I mean, it’s not like it’s chocolate cake or anything, probably more like vanilla with a lot of icing so that you have to scrape off some of it, but it’s still tasty,” George grinned as he and Lee pulled her to her feet, letting the textbook in her lap fall to the floor.

“I like icing,” Alice mumbled as the boys led her over to the stairs to the girl’s dormitories.

“You’ll be fine then!” Fred encouraged as he nudged her up the stairs. “Just get some sleep.”

Alice took a few stumbling steps up before placing a hand out on the wall to steady herself as she continued up and out of sight. The boys grinned and shook their heads before heading up to their own dorm.

Alice was asleep before her head hit the pillow. She dreamed of chocolate and vanilla cake layered with icing and decorated with ghosts and jarveys and vampires fleeing from garlic knots that then lifted from the cake and attacked her with dark magic, but she repelled the jarvey’s first attack and disarmed the ghost and vampire before they could hit her.

Emily was waking her up far too soon for Alice’s liking. She ignored her for a while at first. That is, until she realized that they had their first exam that morning. Alice’s eyes flared open and she shot from the bed, hastily dressing as Emily remained standing at the side of Alice’s four-poster. It wasn’t until Alice was fully dressed that she realized Emily was still in her pajamas and the other girls were just beginning to wake, reassuring her that she was not in fact late for her first exam.

With such a stunning start to her day already under way, Alice didn’t have much hope for the rest of it. She could barely eat for the nerves. Emily managed to coax her into nibbling on an apple but Alice’s stomach was grumbling when they went in for their Defense Against the Dark Arts exam. 

They were given new quills charmed with Anti-Cheating spells so Alice couldn’t use her lucky quill, which wasn’t really lucky she just liked it because the feather was soft and fun to play with when she thought about an answer. 

The large room where they had their written exams was hot and stuffy. Alice was stripping off her hot outer robe about ten minutes into the exam. It seemed to take forever which simply made her doubt all her answers and go back through everything a second time.

Aside from all that, Alice didn’t feel too bad about the exam. Which made her nervous because every time she left a test feeling nervous she got a great grade and when she left it feeling good she did poorly—well, mediocre. It didn’t help that Emily wanted to talk about the exam afterwards. She and Katie and Liz went on about it all through lunch while Alice and Leanne tried their hardest to ignore them and the sinking feelings in their stomachs.

It wasn’t until the practical portions of the exams that Alice conceded that maybe the boys had been right. She needn’t have worried so much about the exams. They weren’t actually that bad. Flitwick brought her in and had her dance a pineapple across the desk which she did wonderfully and even had it do a couple flips for added flair which delighted the genial professor. 

McGonagall had them transform a mouse into a snuffbox, extra points for aesthetic. This one was a piece of cake as Alice had already pretty much mastered that one a few months earlier. Thus she was able to not only completely transform her mouse into a lovely purple snuffbox, but managed beautiful vine and flower engravings around the body and jewels around the edges with a decorative clasp opening and McGonagall’s initials engraved on the top. The professor was a little surprised at the last one and quirked a brow sternly but Alice just grinned and hoped the information she’d gotten from Lee Jordan managed a few extra points.

Snape glared down his nose at them while they made Forgetfulness potions—leave it to Snape to make the exam that much more difficult. Alice’s pranking spree on the Slytherins did have some benefits as she had managed to correctly brew this potion, even though her modified Headache potion had also been wonderfully successful. Snape seemed a bit displeased at her success, as did Thomas who depended on Potions class to show her up—though he still did as Snape couldn’t keep from praising Thomas’ perfect brew even though he clearly hated congratulating a Gryffindor.

The History of Magic exam was their last and Alice found it to be the first time she had not been tempted to fall asleep in Binns’ class. Probably because it was the first time Binns didn’t teach. Alice found her own writings about the inventors of self-stirring cauldrons to be mildly interesting as opposed to how mind-numbingly boring Binns’ lectures on them had been. When the ghost professor finally told them to put down their quills and roll up their parchment, Alice echoed Thomas’ “whoop” of excitement. 

“Finally! Freedom!” Alice sighed in relief as she fell into the grass on the lawns near the lake. Emily laughed and sat down cross-legged next to her.

Alice closed her eyes from the bright sun and soaked up the warmth. As such, she didn’t notice Emily’s smile falter a bit as she looked out across the grounds and up at the castle.

“I’m gonna miss it though,” Emily said softly with a strange tone. Alice peered up at her friend who was smiling sadly at the lake where Fred, George, and Lee were splashing and swearing to the girls up on the bank that they could get the giant squid to come out. Alice sat up at the sadness that was so out of place on her bubbly friend. She glanced out over the grounds too, chuckling as the giant squid surfaced right underneath Thomas who ended up clutching onto one of its tentacles as it raised above the water.

“Yeah, me too,” Alice admitted. “But it’s not forever, we’ll be back next year. And then we’ll be second-years and we can scare all the first-years telling them how hard everything is!” Alice grinned mischievously.

“You’re terrible,” Emily laughed, shaking her head. But then she grinned wickedly and continued “We can tell them that the last kid that gave Snape cheek is still hanging in the dungeons!”

“We can tell them it was Thomas’ brother! And we’ll have to get him in on it too, he can really play it up! And that students get sent to the Forbidden Forest for detention!” Alice schemed.

“That one’s true though!” Emily pointed out. Alice’s eyes widened.

“Is it? Guess we won’t have to make it all up. What is wrong with this place?” she laughed.

“And next year you can try out for Quidditch,” Emily said. Alice rolled her eyes and scoffed.

“Very funny, Em.”

“No! I’m serious! You were incredible during your test!” Emily exclaimed. Her shouts drew the attention of some other Gryffindors. Katie, Leanne, and Liz all came over to agree with Emily and effectively threw her under the bus when some of the actual Quidditch players meandered over too. By the end of it, Emily and Katie had convinced Oliver Wood that Alice could fly circles around the competition. Angelina and Alicia didn’t help by bringing up Alice’s Quidditch legacy. Wood practically promised her a spot on the team next year, already raving about playing with a Connen-Ackers! Alice didn’t appreciate her friends’ “support” and reminded all of them that she was still afraid of flying, not that any of them listened.

The remaining time before the inevitable departure from Hogwarts went by in a blur. Alice was so busy feeling excited for summer but also despairing that everything would be different, so she tried to take in as much as she could. She and Emily were out on the lawns practically every second, occasionally joining up with others. Thomas and Cole managed to convince them, along with the rest of the Gryffindor first-years, to have a huge every-kid-for-themselves game of tag in which all spells were fair game. Once Cole and some of the other Muggleborns had explained the game for the hundredth time, it took off and eventually students from other years and houses joined in.

That took up much of the day before the end-of-year feast. The rest of it was taken up by Fred and George announcing at every chance they could get that Alice had lost the prank war and would have a speech for the Feast that everyone should give their utmost attention to. Alice eventually got so tired of it, that she brought out the big guns—and by that I mean she brought out her water-gun, which it had been too cold to use and still probably was but what the heck, the twins were annoying her! That of course then started a free-for-all water war which Alice was winning with her Power Drencher until some Ravenclaw managed to modify the Aguamenti spell to spray like a fire hose. It was a good thing they had all learned a drying spell, otherwise the Great Hall would have been flooded when they all gathered for the feast.

Alice’s hair was still a bit wet by the start of it, so she leaned over to wring it out on the floor as Dumbledore stood up to give his speech. The Gryffindor table was rather sullen due to the Great Hall being decked out in silver and green to celebrate Slytherin’s winning the house cup… for the sixth year in a row. Dumbledore seemed to cast a sympathetic smile towards them before beginning his speech, though the giant serpent on the banner behind him didn’t exactly help ease their sense of failure.

“Another year has passed and thus that means I must bother you all with yet another speech!” Dumbledore grinned, his eyes twinkling. A few chuckled, but most had either heard the same comments too many times to appreciate them or were too absorbed with worry over exam results to pay much attention. Or in Alice’s case, too absorbed with bitterness for not receiving points for her unprecedented achievement which should have at least resulted in a second-place finish for Gryffindor.

“It’s been a wonderful year and hopefully you all will leave having learned a new trick or two,” Dumbledore seemed to look straight at Alice when he said this last part. She had certainly learned a good many new tricks and pulled them all on fellow students… but Dumbledore couldn’t be referring to that… after all he didn’t know she had been the one to torment the Slytherins this year…

“I’m sure you will have plenty of time over the summer to forget some of what you’ve learned this year, but hopefully to also replace the empty space in your minds with new experiences that I would be delighted to hear about next year! Now, before we dig into the delicious feast awaiting us, I understand there’s a house cup to be awarded tonight,” Dumbledore smiled and the Slytherin table cheered. Alice rolled her eyes, hearing her scoff echoed by her fellow Gryffindors along with some grumblings from the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws as well. The headmaster raised his hand for silence before continuing.

“The final tally of house points stand thus: in fourth place, with three hundred and thirty-six points, Hufflepuff,”

There were a few half-hearted attempts at applause, primarily from the Hufflepuff table, but no one aside from Slytherin was celebrating the results tonight.

“In third place, Gryffindor, with three hundred and ninety-nine,” there were some grumblings and whispers from the Gryffindors as everyone bemoaned the lone point keeping them from four hundred.

“In second, Ravenclaw has ended the year with four hundred and forty-eight; and finally, with four hundred and sixty-three points, the winner is Slytherin!" Dumbledore announced. The Slytherin table erupted into cheers. The other three tables were much less enthusiastic. If they did clap, it was less than half-heartedly, and every face showed the disappointment this loss was causing. It was even worse that Ravenclaw had come so close to ending the Slytherin winning streak, only to be short a measly fifteen points. While the Gryffindor table was also aching at the close call with Ravenclaw, they all still wished that they would be the ones to beat Slytherin. Alice was extremely upset. 

"None of them leapt through _their_ portrait hole!" she sulked.

“Well done, Slytherin,” Dumbledore called out over lone table’s celebrations. “However, if I could recapture your attention for just a moment, I have one last announcement before we can all stuff our faces,” Dumbledore cleared his throat before continuing in a more serious tone. “Sadly, we are losing one of our professors next year.”

The room immediately erupted into whispers. Students speculated over who could be leaving, some excitedly wishing it to be their least favorite teacher—among these names whispered fervently the prominent two were Snape and Binns—others worriedly expecting the worse. Alice scanned every face at the table behind the headmaster, trying to determine who it was. Her eyes bulged and her heart dropped as she saw the apologetic smile.

“Professor Triggs will be doing some traveling in the coming years and thus will not be returning to teach next year.”

The Great Hall was shocked into silence. The Ravenclaw table was the first to break it with angry mutterings, some tears, and a few outbursts. The rest of the hall quickly joined in as he was not just beloved by his former house, even if everyone had thought him crazy at the beginning of the year… and some still thought him so. Alice shook her head, stunned and angry that she hadn’t known beforehand, sad and bitter that her favorite teacher was—of course!—the one that was leaving.

“It couldn’t have been Snape!” Fred voiced Alice’s thoughts and she turned to see the twins just as upset as she felt.

“Triggs is the most interesting professor this place’s had in forever!” George bemoaned.

“Plus, he didn’t take points off for wrong answers,” Lee added.

“Or passing notes in class if you did it creatively or the notes were interesting,” Angelina added with a slight laugh that turned her smile sad at the end.

“As such, his position has already been filled and I will not leave you to wonder at who will be teaching you next year,” Dumbledore continued after the news had sunk in on the students. “One of our current professors will be taking the position.”

Fred and George immediately crossed their fingers.

“Please don’t let it be Snape,” they said in unison.

“Professor Quirrell will be taking over as your Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, and we are currently interviewing for his replacement as professor of Muggle Studies,” Dumbledore informed the hall.

Fred and George whooped in triumph and high-fived. Snape was glowering as the young Professor Quirrell accepted the half-hearted congratulatory applause from the students.

“Now, that was more than enough announcements. Let’s tuck in!” Dumbledore finished with a smile and sat down to dig into the feast.

As the tables filled with food, Fred and George gave Alice wicked grins. Alice glared at them, but grabbed the parchment from her pocket. George grabbed up a goblet and began tapping his fork up against it. No one was paying much attention though, so Fred stood up and shouted along the table.

“Oi! If you would all spare us just one more moment, Alice Connen has a few words she’d like to share!” Fred announced, gaining the attention of the other tables as well.

Fred winked to Alice as he took his seat. She glared at him and stood up. Upon glancing around and realizing she could hardly see over anyone’s head and thus couldn’t be seen, she sighed and stood up on the bench. If she was going to make a spectacle of herself, might as well be seen by everyone. Okay, it might’ve been a bit more selfish than that, she wanted everyone to be able to see her to ensure that no rumors could be spread guessing at her emotional state upon giving the speech. She would not have it said that Alice Connen was a sore loser or a crybaby!

Alice unrolled the parchment, the length of which gave some students pause, and cleared her throat to begin. Her breath stuck in her throat though as she looked at the page. The ink was all smeared and bleeding from being soaked in the water war. Alice could make out a few of the words and thought maybe she could figure out the gist.

“My fellow students! We stand in the presence of gulls… wait a second,” Alice narrowed her eyes and peered at the bleeding word. “Sorry, gods!” At this, the Weasley twins waved their hands to the crowds, not leaving any doubt as to who she could be talking about.

“Trickster gods that I have been worthy enough to…” Alice paused again peering at the smudged ink. She tried desperately to try to figure out what it was supposed to be but the ink was too smeared. It was a miracle she had gotten through as much as she did, but the rest of it was just a mess. Students were losing interest and Alice set her jaw. If she had to give a speech than she was gonna give a speech dammit! And all of them would listen!

Alice dropped the parchment, letting it fall to the floor at a distressed noise from the twins. She ignored them though. She was going to improvise and if they didn’t like it, well tough!

“If y’all didn’t notice, I was in a war with the Weasley twins this year!” she declared confidently, gesturing to the boys sitting across the table from her. “It was an epic war—the kind songs are written of! I have no doubt it was a war that will be talked about for generations to come! Each new batch of first-years at Hogwarts will hear the tales of the flame-haired tricksters doing battle with the pony-tailed young upstart—of the Battle of the History of Magic Corridor and the falsified letters that nearly brought the tricksters to their knees!” Alice recounted triumphantly. But her eyes turned downwards and her tone grew solemn. “Yet they will hear more stories of the trickster gods’ victories. I was simply ill-matched to the trickster gods’ experience and resources. Thus, in the epic battle of magic vs. the mundane, of inventive vs. classic, of Weasleys vs. Connen, these two you see here today,” Alice once more gestured to the twins before her, “have proven themselves to be the ultimate professionals of prankery! The triumphant champions of trickery! The unmatched masters of mischief! The—”

“Miss Connen!” Professor McGonagall cut in. She gave Alice a glance that said “wrap it up” to which Alice nodded and continued.

“To finish; I, Alice Connen, am an inferior prankster to Misters Fred and George Weasley, to whom we all owe our obsequious allegiance to as the Joke Kings, nay! The Trickster Gods!” Alice took a bow and resumed her seat to applause. Fred and George even gave her a standing ovation, which turned into them accepting the cheers of their fans. Once both the twins and Alice were seated and began reaching for food, the spell was broken and the Great Hall set about to eating.

“Wonderful speech, Alice!” Lee congratulated with a smirk.

“Yeah, it brought a tear to my eye!” George laughed.

“But don’t beat yourself up too bad, you gave George and I a run for our money,” Fred conceded honestly.

“Yeah, but this kind of is our whole reason for being,” George added.

“Would’ve been a real blow to our identity if you’d won,” Fred agreed. “We’d have had to rethink all our future plans!”

“Well, maybe this gave you some appreciation for the ingenuity of Muggle pranks,” Alice replied, putting all bitterness at her loss behind her.

“Definitely! Especially this one,” George said as he held his hand out to Angelina who took it. She jumped and pulled her hand back quickly at the jolt of the buzzer and rolled her eyes at the boys guffawing.

* * *

Alice decided that Wingardium Leviosa was officially her favorite spell as her luggage floated along behind her down the numerous stairs. She dropped it off in the entry hall where she had to make a few goodbyes. 

Triggs had a line of students already formed to bid him goodbye. The Ravenclaw Quidditch team was currently talking to him and laughing, though one girl was teary eyed as she hugged him before heading off with her friends. Alice and Emily joined the line, which actually went faster than expected. In no time the two girls were face-to-face with one of their favorite teachers for, probably, the last time.

Emily was a bit teary-eyed as she hugged him goodbye. Alice rolled her eyes and denied the lump in her throat, saying it was all the dust in the castle aggravating her allergies. Triggs just laughed and Emily moved off to gather her things.

“So, where are you going?” Alice asked curiously.

“Eastern Europe. There have been some strange reports about hauntings that I wanted to check out and then I was thinking I might spend some time with some magical communities over in those parts. There’s a group of vampires that I would love to get in touch with,” Triggs explained light-heartedly, though his eyes were shadowed. There was something he wasn’t telling her.

Alice shrugged it off though and hugged him.

“Well, if you’re still dating my aunt then I’ll probably see you again at some point,” Alice remarked with a slight eye roll. Triggs laughed.

“Hopefully,” he replied. He suddenly became much more serious and continued genuinely, “You’re going to do great here, Alice. Don’t you worry. You’re a lot like your mom,” he smiled sadly. “Just don’t make any Ravenclaw enemies and you’ll do even better than her!” he joked.

"Yeah, Dumbledore showed us some of my mom's memories of you. When you said you two hated each other you really meant you guys _hated_ each other! Like you were throwing fireballs at each other!" Alice exclaimed.

"I know, right! I'm not proud of how I participated too, but your mom-- I have a scar from a fight with her! She threw a knife at me!" Triggs remarked eyes wide.

"No way," Alice breathed in shock.

"I know! I would show you the scar, but it's ah... in an awkward spot," Triggs finished ruefully, a hand moving to a spot under his arm which undoubtedly bore the mark. “I’ll miss you, kid,” he smiled.

“Don’t go getting soft on me!” Alice smirked, but hugged him one last time before hurrying off to join up with her friend.

Alice swiped at her eyes as she grabbed her luggage. Emily noticed but didn’t say anything and the two continued on with the trail of Hogwarts students towards the station. Once there, Alice had another goodbye with Hagrid, which was a lot more tearful—on the groundskeeper’s part at least. He sent her off with a bundle of rock cakes that Alice was pretty sure were inedible but which she accepted graciously.

Boarding the train, she and Emily found a compartment with a few other first-year girls. They hung out there, talking with Liz, Katie, and Leanne until the Weasley twins barged in and dragged off Alice and Emily back to their compartment. Lee Jordan brought out his exploding snap cards and after a visit from the candy trolley they were occupied for hours. Angelina and Alicia joined them during Alice’s attempt to explain the game Jin, which proved too complicated a Muggle concept for the witches and wizards to grasp, so they ended up playing Go Fish instead.

The compartment began to wind down a bit and Alice and Emily decided to return to theirs. Bringing the ordinary cards back with them, they roped the other girls into playing some more games in which Liz proved herself a card shark. After a particularly loud argument after Katie accused Liz of cheating, the girls got into a battle of sorts where they pelted candies at each other. This tired them out a bit and the others fell asleep, leaving Alice and Emily awake in the compartment. They messed with their sleeping friends a bit, but eventually retreated to the window seats where they stared out, watching the landscape pass by. They sat quietly like this for a good while before Emily broke the silence.

"Alice," she began solemnly. Alice directed her gaze back from the trees rushing past, surprised by Emily's unusually solemn tone. "I have to tell you something," Emily hesitated. Alice was a little worried, Emily seemed very upset. "I'm not coming back to Hogwarts next year." Emily said, barely over a whisper.

Alice was shocked into silence. She hadn't realized how much she considered Emily a friend until she was faced with the fact that she wouldn't be there next year.

"Why?" was all Alice could think to ask.

"My mom got me into another school that she thinks is better!" Emily pouted, her eyes watering. "It’s her old school and she says this new school is ‘more advanced’ and ‘proper’ but I know it’s just that she wants me to continue her legacy there or something!" Emily exclaimed.

"Where are you going?" Alice asked, still shocked to her core.

"Some dumb place called Beaux-Batons or some other stupid name!" she spat, her face turning red.

"Are you staying there forever? Like, the rest of school?" Alice questioned.

"I hope not! I hope that I can convince my mom how awful it is and be back at Hogwarts before next Christmas but I don't know!" Tears started to run down Emily's cheeks now. "Oh, Alice I'm going to miss you!" Emily cried and threw herself across the gap to latch onto Alice, crying into her shoulder.

"I'm going to miss you too," Alice replied, and was further surprised that she actually meant it.

"You're my best friend. I don't know how I'll get by without you watching out for me," Emily sniffled, returning to her seat.

"Yeah, same here," again, true.

"You'll be okay, right? I mean, I probably won't be, but you have to be! You're so much more popular than I am, you'll probably be just fine?" Emily posed it as a question, wanting reassurance that by leaving she wouldn't be hurting anyone.

"Yeah, Em, I'll be fine. I have other friends besides you," Alice smiled. Emily laughed. "And you'll be fine too. You'll make lots of new friends! You're friendly, people like you," Emily looked at Alice dubiously but didn't deny.

"So," Emily said, straightening up, wiping her tears away, and returning to her usual chipper persona. "What are you going to do for summer vacation?" Emily asked. And just like that, their goodbyes were done.

"I don't know, maybe my aunt will take us somewhere cool, like the Grand Canyon," Alice replied.

"Oh, cool! That sounds fun! I've never been there!" Emily exclaimed, excited for her friend.

The rest of the train ride continued in a similar manner as they talked about anything and everything except for their impending separation. The others woke up and this helped to provide added distraction. So did the Weasley twins bombarding their compartment with a sparkle bomb that coated all of them in purple glitter, much to Alice’s ire.

* * *

The train pulled into the station and it again hit the girls that this was probably the last time they would see each other. Neither of them spoke (Emily remaining silent was a miracle by itself), but stayed close to each other while they got off the train. 

Fred and George ambushed them once more, trailed by a whole troop of freckled redheads that had to be their family.

“Girls! Had to make one last goodbye!” George explained, grinning as usual, throwing an arm over each girl’s shoulders.

“Fred! George! Honestly, could you give the poor girls a warning at least!” their mother cried. Alice had met her before and Mrs. Weasley seemed to recognize her as well and smiled. “Oh, hello, dear! I see that little tumble didn’t scare you away.”

“It was her fault!” George declared defensively again, to which Alice agreed.

“Ha! Alice, scared off? Why mum, we’re all cut from the same cloth! I don’t think anything we could do would scare this one away! She’d be right there with us!” Fred laughed. To which Alice also had to agree.

The twins’ mother clearly didn’t seem to believe them. Probably expecting—no, hoping—that there wasn’t anyone else in the world quite as troublesome as Fred and George. The twins introduced the girls to all the present members of their family and then set about to making a few last jokes to last the summer break. They were all still laughing when the twins were threatened with being left behind.

“Well, see you two!” George called as the twins moved off to follow their family.

“Yeah! See you next year!” Fred hollered back as the two were swallowed up in the crowd. His comment though, brought back the dread the girls were plagued by.

Emily glanced back, taking one last, long, glimpse of the Hogwarts Express which she probably wouldn't ever board again. Alice hugged her, and the two searched around for their families.

“Alice!”

Alice turned to see Margo Wallace waving to her from a spot further along to the right. She had already found Jason who was still being stopped every now and then by someone coming up to say goodbye. Alice waved back to Margo and turned to see Emily waving at a couple that must be her parents over to the left.

The girls turned back to each other and smiled sadly. They gave each other one last, long hug before turning and going off to their now separate lives. They looked back once more, waved goodbye and smiled.

"Write me this summer! I want to know how the Grand Canyon is!" Emily shouted.

"Okay, you too!" Alice shouted back. Emily turned back around and dragged her trunk along behind her as she made her way over to her parents. Alice sighed and shoved through the crowd to Margo and her brother. She really was going to miss that girl.


	20. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys, I just have to apologize, I dropped the ball on Alice’s Muggle pranks. I was trying to think up all these intense elaborate pranks and I just completely missed that this is Muggle vs. Magical and she should have gone classic and simple: I’m talking Whoopee cushions, pie in the face, fake blood, banana peels, snakes in a can, squirting flower, arrow in the head, fake bugs/snakes, fake limb loss, etc. I messed up, I messed up big time… oh well she’ll just have to do all that later

Albania had been a bust. Triggs’ trip over winter break only succeeding in stirring up a vampire nest that then set upon a local town that also happened to be the territory of a werewolf. It was a good thing Triggs was skilled in memory charms because those townspeople would’ve been institutionalized had he not wiped that scene from their minds.

Dumbledore’s agent had been searching the world for the Dark Lord for nearly a decade before catching a hint in Albania. They got there too late though, the trail had gone cold. Over the school year they managed to find it again—supposedly. Triggs didn’t think animal deaths and reports of hauntings all across Europe constituted a trail, but Dumbledore assured him that his agent was the best.

But apparently two bloodhounds are better than one, so Triggs was set on the case as well. That’s why he now found himself in an old church in Scotland, following up on a story about restless spirits spooking parishioners. 

Triggs shook his head. It was probably exactly that: ghosts scaring people. Why? For the fun of it. Triggs suspected there wasn’t much excitement for the undead besides getting to scare the bloody hell out of a live person every now and then. At least, that’s what he’d do for fun as a ghost. He and Nax, once they’d become friends, had joked about haunting each other. The first time a door opened on its own he had actually hoped it was her… he had taken to calling the wind ‘Nax.’

“Wow, grim thoughts tonight huh?” he muttered to himself. His voice rang hollow through the vaulted ceilings. Triggs shivered involuntarily. “Pull yourself together, you’ve spent half your life in a creepy castle filled with ghosts and never batted an eye.”

He couldn’t shake the feeling though. It was as if someone was breathing down his neck, but every time he turned there was nothing. He definitely felt like someone… or something, was watching him.

“Please just be a friendly ghost that gets a kick out of startling kids,” Triggs muttered, rubbing his arms that kept breaking out into goose bumps. 

He walked down the aisle, the harsh light of his wand casting shadows on the walls so that the empty pews appeared as tall figures in a row. Triggs fancied they looked like prisoners awaiting execution. Wasn’t _that_ a propitious omen! He ascended the steps towards the pulpit and raised his wand.

“ _Spiritus revelare_!” Triggs commanded with a slashing motion of his wand. A pulse of light issued from his wand and rolled through the room in a wave with a sound like rushing wind. Triggs lowered his wand and paused, waiting.

No ghosts, spirits, or poltergeists appeared. Nothing floated out of the walls or floor or ceiling. No wailing voices issued up, irritated at being called forth. This church was probably the only one in Scotland that was _not_ haunted.

Far from reassuring Triggs, it sent a shiver down his spine. The hair on the back of his neck rose and he jumped at the howling of the wind against the windows. Triggs brought his wand back up and swished it in a circle, casting a protection spell around him. 

It was instinct: pure and simple. Triggs’ would have liked to say that he could hear the slithering and hissing sounds through the howl of the wind, but that was a lie. He had no evidence to suggest that he was in danger, aside from the overwhelming lack of evidence. Regardless of Triggs’ reasoning behind casting the protection spell, it was a good thing he did as it saved his life… at least this time.

Not a second after he finished the spell a long body hurled itself at him from the darkness. The creature was deflected by Triggs’ spell and fell heavily to the floor in a heap. Triggs was knocked back by pure shock and fell on his rear to the floor. Recovering, he glanced over fearfully to the shape on the floor.

It was a large snake, an adder, coiled on the floor recovering from the impact with the shield spell. The snake shook its head and then looked straight at Triggs. Triggs had never thought animals could hate… they just seemed beyond such a destructive and useless emotion. But in that moment he saw pure, unbridled hatred in that snake’s eyes. They seemed to strike to his heart, burning into his soul with a fierce desire for blood.

The snake lunged, fangs bared. Triggs fired a blasting spell at it as it soared through the air and scrambled to his feet before seeing if his aim had been true or not. He heard the blast behind him and a thud as the snake fell to the floor, but whether it was in pieces or just dazed he wasn’t going to wait to find out. Triggs rushed to the back door, dashed inside and threw it closed behind him. 

Turning, Triggs cursed. He had backed himself into a corner. The room he found himself in was apparently the pastor’s office and the only door appeared to be the one Triggs had just come through. There were a few tall windows, which Triggs could probably reach with a few well-placed levitation spells on the furniture, but he wasn’t sure he had the time. Plus, he needed to deal with this snake.

It was no ordinary snake; that was for sure. Something was off about it. Those eyes contained something more than base-level instinct. They contained intelligence and hatred—they contained something almost human. 

Triggs had heard stories of spirits possessing animals, but he had never actually run into one. If the animal was just a host for the spirit, then would killing the animal do anything at all? Would killing the host kill the spirit as well or just free it from corporeal form making it much more difficult to subdue?

With a loud thud the door shuddered. Triggs started and backed away from the door. The snake hurled itself against the door repeatedly and the heavy wood began to crack. Triggs readied trapping spells in his mind, prepared for when the snake busted its way through. Instead there was a pause. No thud, no splintering crash as the snake broke through, nothing. 

Triggs decided he wasn’t going to be lured into a trap by a damn snake and so with a flick of his wand the door was flung open. The adder was gone but a trail of blood led out of sight beyond the door frame. No, Triggs was not falling for that one. 

Good thing too because the snake suddenly lunged through the doorframe out of nowhere. It was injured badly from Triggs’ blasting spell as well as hurling itself at the door but it still rushed in extraordinarily fast. Not fast enough though as with a swish and a flick Triggs sent the snake into the air. It hung suspended, thrashing wildly and casting baleful glares at Triggs as it struggled to get to him. Unfortunately this made the spell difficult to hold as Triggs had to counter every twitch of the snake to keep it from floating towards him.

The snake’s thrashing was getting weaker before it suddenly ceased. Triggs had been compensating for the snake’s movements and so had to quickly correct himself before sending the snake hurtling into the back wall. The snake glared at him as it hung suspended, but did not attempt to break free of the spell. With a hiss its body went limp.

Triggs blinked, surprised at his sudden victory. The injuries must have been too much for the snake. Or perhaps the spirit drained the animal host. Triggs sighed and began to lower the dead snake back to the ground, but he was suddenly struck from behind. 

Triggs stumbled forward, dropping his wand as searing pain shot down his arm from his back. Twisting he watched as a stain spread across his shirt from two bleeding holes in his shoulder.  A much smaller adder arched up behind Triggs. Great, so the spirit had a whole family of snakes!

The young adder hissed at him, venom and Triggs’ blood dripping from its fangs. Triggs instantly zeroed in on his fallen wand but the snake watched him. Its hiss sounded like a laugh. Triggs’ wand wasn’t far, but neither was the snake. His right arm seized up. He wasn’t sure he could get his wand and cast a spell with his left hand before the snake sunk its fangs into him once more and overloaded his system with its venom. He had to try though.

With a desperate lunge, already forming the spell in his mind, Triggs went for his wand but the snake lashed out after him. Triggs knew he wouldn’t make it as his fingers fumbled for the wand handle and he steeled himself in preparation for the attack.

Instead, a bright light flashed, momentarily blinding him. The snake hissed and shrieked in pain before the sound died off pitifully. Triggs’ hand finally clamped around his wand and he spun quickly to face the newcomer, be it savior or some new threat. His vision was still dark and fuzzy from the flash and it took a second before he could make out a shape in the room.

“Put that away, I just saved your life,” the figure laughed in a throaty but feminine voice that held the faintest traces of an accent. The woman reached down and grabbed Triggs’ arm, helping him to his feet. Triggs didn’t lower his wand though. He couldn’t quite make out the woman’s features, as shadows and blots of color continued to block his vision.

“It’s a shame I had to kill the snake, it’ll take forever to find where the spirit fled, but ah well,” the woman remarked casually. “It’ll be easier with two on the trail now!”

When the spots faded from his vision, the air was sucked from his body. Triggs broke out in a cold sweat. The woman grinned and laughed.

“If I didn’t know any better, you look like you’d just seen a ghost!” she joked and playfully hit Triggs’ arm. “Now, let’s check out that bite, I should have some anti-venom.”

Triggs stumbled from her light touch, eyes bulging. He swallowed thickly but he barely managed to croak “Nax?!”

Nax Connen blinked in confusion and tilted her head.

“I didn’t realize Dumbledore shared my name with you. I thought I was supposed to be a _secret_ agent but whatever!” Nax extended her hand out to him with a friendly, but unrecognizing grin. “Nax Ackers, and you are?”


End file.
